Christmas is here yet again. Peace and goodwill to all, presents everywhere, food from one end of the house to the other, squealing kids and snoring dads. The smell of Christmas trees and the sound of carols.
Yeah, well I reckon there is a bit of selective celebration going on.
Do you reckon the Government will give the asylum seekers in detention centres a hearty Christmas dinner? Do you reckon Santa will visit those kids? Probably not, cos they’re probably not Christians anyway. I’m not so sure about that. I reckon kids of all persuasions (and the littlies don’t know about this type of discrimination yet) just love any sort of celebration.
Isn’t Christmas about sharing? Isn’t it about wishing people good fortune? Isn’t it about sharing our love for each other? Isn’t it about the light in the eyes of the kids?
Yeah well, when we sink our fangs into an unfortunate fowl or a pickled prawn or two, maybe a thought for those who aren’t getting is as good us we have it is appropriate.
How many of us have a person at the table that doesn’t have a family Christmas to go to? How many of us spare a thought for the people in prisons, in detention centres in absolute and crushing poverty here at home?
We all see the messages from our troops overseas and so it should be that hey get to share some small part of Christmas with their families.
But what about the people caught in the middle? Those whose homes are now rubble. Those who have lost a family member this year just gone past?
Aren’t we being a little bit hypocritical? Or do we suffer the ostrich syndrome?
When we sit down at the table this year, perhaps a thought for the residents at Ainslie Village, that guy who plays guitar on the pavement in Civic, the old guy in the sobering up cell, that dear old lady in the nursing home who never gets a visitor.
So my message to all those who have entertained me through Riotact in 2014 is thanks to you all and I hope you have a really pleasant Christmas and New Year with people you like or love.
And I implore you to give a couple of seconds’ reflection on just how lucky we are.
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