University of Virginia Library

Maybe Even Jesus

Just four days before Christmas, and here
we are with no presents, no tree, no snow,
and worst of all, no Christmas Spirit. We are
facing ten days in which to catch up with a
semester's work, and our tendency is to
shuffle around the office muttering
"humbug," trying to destroy whatever spirit
anyone else has. After all, it is a very
inconvenient time to have a vacation.

The University has too long been unable to
get a handle on the calendar problem which
leaves us with a ridiculously short Christmas
vacation followed by an exam interlude
followed by another vacation. Maybe it would
be easier for the calendar manipulators if they
just rescheduled Christmas in mid-January so
everything would fit conveniently into place.
Castro did it, and surely the University's
Calendar Committee is at least as efficient a
bureaucracy as Castro's Ministry of
Production. The way it is now, the first
semester calendar is an intolerable travesty,
especially for students who live far away and
cannot afford to go home twice in one
month, but who would like to be home more
than ten days when they do get there.

Enough grumbling. What really bothers us
is our own inability to shake the chip off our
shoulders, and get in tune with the Christmas
carols at least long enough to give a few gifts
and feel a little Christmas cheer. After all,
Jesus actually was born (the occasion which
prompts the good tidings) and, whether you
accept and rejoice in his Divinity or you just
feel he was a great seer and a good man, his
birth can symbolize a few, of the things our
world is sadly lacking, like love and peace and
goodwill.

Very abstract ideas, these; and maybe you
can't even visualize them as part of this world
of bombs and bigots. Can you visualize Santa
Claus, then? Try to think about the North
Pole and an old fat man who has nothing but
good in his heart; someone like your
grandfather maybe? Anyway, if you do not
have a religious experience at Christmas,
maybe you can have a magical one. You can
psych yourself into it for a moment, but you
can't sustain it when you open your eyes and
read about the latest bombings or even think
about those two term papers that are due by
Jan. 3.

At least that is our problem. Lights and
bells and the essence of Christ are too good,
too eloquently perfect for skeptics. You
remember the first Christmas that you knew
that Santa Claus was a hoax, but who can
remember when he first knew Santa was real?
Christmas, despite what Woolco's
management might say, is a time for little
children, and in a somewhat different way,
for parents.

There has to be joy, unbridled emotional
happiness, for the celebration to have any
meaning. Children delight in getting, parents
feel the warm satisfaction of giving, and real
Christians know both feelings through their
knowledge of Christ. It can be a genuinely
beautiful thing, indeed.

So far we are missing something–the one
spark to ignite that flame in the heart which
tells your head that you are happy. Maybe it
is the oppressiveness of term papers and
newspapers that smothers that flame. Maybe
it is a passing thing, which a tree and a turkey
can relieve. We are not little children, but
despite the University's best efforts, maybe
we have not seen the last of Santa Claus yet.
Or Jesus either, for that matter.