Be like Scrooge

Well, I'm sure that the title of this blog will grab the attention of my readers, which is what I expected. We think of Scrooge as this cruel, miserly, miserable man, whose "Bah! Humbug" has become a catch phrase even to this day. Countless movies and Christmas specials have been produced, based loosely or even fully on Dickens' classic. Actors both real and animated have interpreted the feared Ebenezer Scrooge, and even at one time, the android Data from "Star Trek: Next Generation" did a turn as the old curmudgeon.

So, what do I mean when I say "Be like Scrooge"?

Last night, as a postlude to our family Thanksgiving, we launched our Holiday movie season by watching the Disney "Christmas Carol" with Jim Carey as Scrooge, and a wonderful supporting cast of Gary Oldman, Robin Wright, and Bob Hoskins. I appreciated this interpretation because it did incorporate several points of the story that appear in the book, such as the fiddler at Fezziwig's Christmas Eve party dunking his head into the bowl of punch. 

But what really struck me was the Scrooge after the transformation: the redeemed Scrooge. We forget THAT Scrooge. Perhaps because that Scrooge covers only a few pages of the final chapter. We see the Scrooge who begs the pardon of the man soliciting for funds for the poor. We see a Scrooge who enjoys the carol singing, and in the Disney interpretation, joins in. Some interpretations of this classic have Scrooge going to church, or going out to the Cratchit's (the 1970 musical version "Scrooge" with the late Albert Finney as the title character). 

But what I wish to dwell on, and why I encourage us to be like Scrooge, comes from to excerpts from the story. The first occurs when Fred, Scrooge's nephew, visits the old miser in his office. For one thing, the book states something that is omitted from the film and television versions: a reference to the true reason of Christmas: 

“Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.”

Fred's statement contains the core of what Dickens felt (and what I feel) that Christmas is about: the veneration due to "its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that..." While Scrooge's protestations are due to his perception of Christmas as a commercial holiday, Fred's perception is of the deeper meaning of Christmas: the day associated with He who it was named after. A time of kindness, charity, and pleasant time. Scrooge didn't know that, yet. And it would take the intercession of the Spirits to help him realize that. 

And as the novel draws to a close, we meet the redeemed Scrooge, and this is the Scrooge that I believe we should all strive to be like. Hear how Dickens describes this changed man: 

Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more..... He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him. 

....and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us!

So, what can we see in this redeemed Scrooge that we, at this time of year, can embrace for ourselves? I for one love the expression "He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man." I think we can all embrace that, not just on Christmas, but throughout the year. Which leads to one of the final sentences, "he knew how to keep Christmas well,". 

But what does that mean? How can one "keep Christmas well". I, for one, do not see Christmas as the single Holiday, or even the season. Granted, I hold my decorating, Christmas music and movies until the First Sunday of Advent, and continue until Epiphany. But I truly try to "keep Christmas well" by endeavoring to be kind, forgiving, charitable and pleasant. While that is not always easy to do, we can strive to be so. If the character of Ebenezer Scrooge can be redeemed, why can we not all be redeemed? 

So, let us all be like Scrooge this Christmas season, and for all our days.