Speaker 1: Keeping Christmas by Henry van Dyke. It is a good
thing to observe Christmas Day. The mere marking of times
and seasons, when men agree to stop work and make
merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps
one to feel the supremacy of the common life over
the individual life. It reminds a man to set his
own little watch now and then by the great clock
of humanity, which runs on Sun time. But there is
a better thing than the observance of Christmas Day, and
that is keeping Christmas. Are you willing to forget what
you have done for other people, and to remember what
other people have done for you, To ignore what the
world owes you, and to think what you owe the world.
To put your rights in the background, and your duties
in the middle distance, and your chances to do a
little more than your duty in the foreground. To see
that your fellow men are just as real as you are,
and try to look behind their faces to their hearts
hungry for joy, to own that probably the only good
reason for your existence is not what you are going
to get out of life, but what you are going
to give to life. To close your book of complaints
against the management of the universe, and look around you
for a place where you can so a few seeds
of happiness. Are you willing to do these things even
for a day, then you can keep Christmas. Are you
willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the
desires of little children, To remember the weakness and loneliness
of people who are growing old. To stop asking how
much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you
love them enough. To bear in mind the things that
other people have to bear on their hearts. To try
to understand what those who live in the same house
with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you.
To trim your lamp so that it will give more
light and less smoke, and to carry it in front
so that your shadow will fall behind you. To make
a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for
your kindly feelings with the gate open. Are you willing
to do these things even for a day, then you
can keep Christmas. Are you willing to believe that love
is the strongest thing in the world, stronger than hate,
stronger than evil, stronger than death, And that the blessed
life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is
the image and brightness of the eternal love. Then you
can keep Christmas. And if you keep it for a day,
why not always. But you can never keep it alone.
End of Keeping Christmas by Henry van Dyke