This Christmas Act to Change for a New Dawn | Arun Kumar

Christmas celebrates the birth of a child who symbolizes the start of a process of mitigating the suffering of the marginalized. It reminds us of the dawn of a new era. 2,000 years later the suffering of the marginalized persists because of the ambitions and actions of the powerful in society. The day comes and goes. We celebrate the birth but seldom act on what it symbolizes.  
 
To really celebrate the occasion and give meaning to our greetings to each other, we must endeavour to mitigate the suffering of the marginalized. For that, we need to strive to change our thoughts and our actions. The emphasis has to shift from outward to inwards – from mechanically greeting our loved ones and acquaintances to resolving to change our thinking and our actions. This has become more critical in the present fraught times what with wars, increasing number of extreme weather events and growing social strife and atomization.
 
In the year going by, heart rending scenes from Gaza are a reminder of what has been a reality in many parts of the world – in East and North Africa, West Asia, Ukraine, etc. Destruction is increasing due to extreme weather events in the Himalayas, Kerala and overbuilt urban areas of India, forest fires and unseasonal heat and rains in various parts of the world, melting polar ice cap and the glaciers, etc.. These impact the marginalized, the most vulnerable, the most.
 
It is for us, the common people, to act to check the unbridled power of the rulers to create wars and destruction, check the power of the military-industrial complex, control our growing consumerism pushed by high powered advertising, check the misuse of the social media to create false narratives, etc. If we begin to act even bit by bit, change will come that will herald a new dawn that Christmas symbolizes and that will give real content to our greetings to each other.
 
My best wishes this Christmas for change in us and all around