NOT using the
panel discussions of the most recent World Science Fiction Convention in
Helsinki, Finland in August 2017 (to which I be unable to go (until I retire
from education)), I will jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree
with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. But not
today. This explanation is reserved for when I dash “off topic”, sometimes
reviewing movies, sometimes reviewing books, and other times taking up the
spirit of a blog an old friend of mine used to keep called THE RANTING ROOM…
“The red light on my portaphone blinked not quite in time with the few
Christmas lights I’d strung to decorate my spare apartment.”
This is how Jeff Kooistra’s story – “Easter Egg Hunt: A Christmas
Story” (ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION & FACT, December 1997) begins. I’ve read
this story at least 20 times since it was first published because, for some
strange reason, it evokes in me the “true meaning” of Christmas.
No – not a wimpy secular attempt to re-write the meaning of God sending
his only Son to Earth to redeem Humans from their sins. [(WARNING: Possibly
Irritating (brief) Essay: I’m weary of repeated attempts to accuse Christianity
of stealing various and sundry holy days, celebrations, symbols, and
traditions. Humans constantly co-opt and adopt concepts from other cultures.
Simple example is that hamburgers, a quintessential American food, originated
in Germany. Macaroni and cheese was born here, in the US. We’ve coopted fajitas
from the Mexican cattle ranges. The California Roll was adapted from sushi rolls
in a Japanese restaurant in LA; fortune cookies as well. Most of the people in
my part of the US don’t speak Spanish – but have no problem talking about their
favorite taco, burrito, and tequila. A personal favorite of this family is
popcorn – how much more American can you get than that? Probably not much more,
though the land didn’t have that name when the Cochise tribe – or possibly the Aztecs
– were using it regularly. We like to steal stuff. All of us. Atheists love to
think that atheism is an outgrowth of Modern Scientific Thought, but it’s not.
Even Wikipedia confirms its ancient (aka as “dumb savage”) origins…]
The true meaning it evokes is sacrifice – the main character, while he
doesn’t make a sacrifice until the end of the story, eventually gives up the grim
past he’s held onto since childhood. The anger and apathy has protected the yearning
heart, which finally leads him to go out into a blizzard to save a place he originally
had a very low opinion of.
A movie version of “A Christmas Carol” [(David Hugh Jones (as David
Jones) David Hugh Jones (as David Jones); Writers: Peter Barnes (written for
television by), Charles Dickens (novel)] is a classic story of an old man who
has…um…walled his heart off with anger and apathy – in his case directed at Christmas.
In the end, he…um sacrifices the packed anger because he realizes that it will
lead only one place. But even more, his pain and anger and rejection of the
sacrifice the Christ made at Christmas would lead not only to his own literal,
grim, and friendless death; but to the death of a child. The child wouldn’t
have the chance to even MAKE a choice to reject the true meaning of Christmas.
The second…well,
the connection may seem tenuous at best until I tell you something about it…The
actor who portrays Ebenezer Scrooge is Sir Patrick Stewart, known to science
fiction fans the world over as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise D
from STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION.
So Ebenezer Scrooge [does anyone out there know what the word “Ebenezer”
means? “The place Eben-Ezer, being the name of a stone raised by Samuel to
commemorate a victory over the Philistines at Mizpeh (1 Sam. 7:12), from Hebrew
eḇen ezar,
"stone of help," from eḇen "stone" + ezer "help"...”
There are lots of theories about where Ebenezer’s last name came from, but
suffice it to say that in the English language, it has become synonymous with “miser”
and “mean”], after conversations with time traveling specters, chooses a future
more in line a man he once was.
His affliction was an ancient one that the Bible warns against: “For
the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it
have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (I
Timothy 6:10). Unlike the rest of us, he gets a second chance to alter one of
the futures we saw.
He sacrificed; as Jake Morgan in “Easter Egg Hunt…” sacrificed – both men
sacrificed their anger (which, I can tell you, is a comfortingly solid thing to
hold onto) in order to make a positive change in their world. Ebenezer to save
both himself and the life of an innocent; Jake to save both himself and the lives
of many innocents. Ultimately, Jesus came to Earth to offer himself as a ransom;
to save the lives of all Humanity.
And THAT is both a Christmas and an Easter message for this holiday
season.
No comments:
Post a Comment