Editor’s Note: The
following story was
written by the late AP
columnist Hal Boyle in
1961.
What is Christmas?
It is the time when
people’s hearts ring like
bells. And legend says
that oxen kneel in their
stalls at midnight in
memory.
Christmas is the
anniversary of one kind of
faith and selflessness. It is
the natal date of a lonely
Jewish carpenter who in
33 short years of breath
stamped an undying
conscience on this world
and promised all men life
everlasting through belief.
He died a radical upon
a cross for what he taught,
bleeding slowly to death
from the agony of nail and
spear wounds. Few
listened to his message in
his day. He died a minor
gadfly to a Roman world.
One of many martyrs
to many faiths, time has
raised Jesus Christ to a
gigantic stature, so that
today more than 600
million people, one-fourth
of all mankind, celebrate
his memory. More men
follow him than any man
who ever lived. In the
centuries since his birth,
he has become the
greatest religious figure in
history.
What is Christmas?
It is his spirit and his
philosophy — that “it is
more blessed to give than
to receive. ”
Today the celebration
of his birth, like his death,
is crossed with old pagan
ceremonials. But his spirit
and his example inflame
the day.
Sometimes religious
leaders get cross with
Santa Claus and say he
takes the honors that
belong to Jesus. But no
one who has read the life
of Christ could ever think
of Him as being jealous.
Santa is just Him with a
beard on.
Perhaps, if Santa Claus
pressed his view 365 days
a year, as Jesus did, he
might, even in these
enlightened days, risk a
similar persecution.
What is Christmas?
It is the time of letting
go of hidebound
prejudices and having the
courage to be sentimental
and good. It is the time
when men take down a
cold unfeeling star from
the sky and make it a
warm and stirring beacon
on a tree.
Mainly, the grownups
say, “Christmas is for the
kids.’’But they
themselves enjoy it most,
although often they are
oddly ashamed to
acknowledge it. In
December their crust of
foolish sophistication —
the crust they grow to
protect themselves from
disappointment — wears
thin. They light a silent
candle to an old belief,
that most men really do
wish each other well but
don’t know quite what to
do about it.
What is Christmas? It is
a season when they can
cast away their mutual
doubts and really do
something for one
another.
The Jews, who regard
Jesus as only a prophet,
have their own festival this
time of year. It is called
Hanukkah, the Festival of
Lights. It lasts eight days.
On each day they light
another candle, give
another gift.
The other day a Jewish
friend of mine, whose
children go to a public
school and love the
festival of Christmas, told
photo by Mark Figart
me the plight of his young
daughter.
She came to her father
and said:
“Daddy, I was chosen
to be an angel in our
Christmas play, but do I
have the right to play it?”
And her father,
knowing her problem,
said:
“Honey, be their
angel.”
I think that is Christmas
— and America.
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