Look after the little things in life. Because one day the time will come when you realise they are the big things.
And there is no better time to find this out than at this time of the year. And no better year than the beast of a year we have just had.
In the days leading up to a normal Christmas, it is easy to be consumed by the enormity of it all; pushing ourselves through heartache and stress, and losing the familial feel of togetherness Christmas once had, when there was nothing else or nowhere else to go to.
Overwhelmed
Today we all feel overwhelmed, so don’t be alarmed if you think it is just you. Everyone is perturbed by the announcement made by An Taoiseach last evening. There is a sense of claustrophobic negativity and it is to be understood.
But now is not the time to panic, not when we have one eye on the big prize. It was always expected that case numbers would soar given that news of the vaccine loosened our behaviour and let in an air of complacency by those who fear it least.
Nobody is looking forward to a dreary month of nowhere to go and nothing to do, least of all those who will lose their jobs and their businesses. But this seems to be the price we will pay in order to give the health service the breathing space it needs, then we have little choice but to modify our behaviour, even if it means abandoning the traditional Christmas gatherings and foregoing the trimmings of winter normality.
Next week, the first batch of vaccine arrives, and with every one that is given, the prospect of catching the virus reduces accordingly. After a few weeks, even more so, after a few months, more again.
Now is the time for cool heads.
So, many of us are forced back to a type of Christmas with which we grew up. Where there was no going out for a few days or nights, when everything revolved around the home and the fire.
There is something wonderfully charming about the notion of the sitting in and enjoying the picture postcard family life, but the sad reality too is that this ideal is not always possible for everyone. Modern stresses and strains mean that many people will spend Christmas alone; many living in hotel rooms; in direct provision centres; in doorways, or in family situations that are not convivial to the creation of great memories.
However, despite all of this, Christmas is the instant default setting our mind goes to as we recall the years gone by. We never remember the dull Octobers and the wet Novembers. Because of this, it is imperative we do as much as we can to make any memories pleasant to maintain. Those of us who can shape memories should help do so. Every positive one can help erase a negative.
From tomorrow morning, you will feel the stretch in the day; it’s minuscule at the moment, but psychologically, we are reminded that with every extra 60 seconds of daylight, the spring and the summer beyond are coming nearer. The possibility of freckles and the sun on our faces lifts us.
Let the fire in your hearth be welcoming over the next week or so, but let the fire in your heart be more welcoming, warm, and full of empathy for the other 51 weeks. The break that most of you may have gives us an opportunity to discover that a good conscience means you can live Christmas all year round.
Gift of time
Our gift to each other this Christmas should be the gift of time. The hardest thing in the world now is to tell yourself to slow down, to sit down, to chat, to share, to play a game with a child, to chat with someone for whom a few words means a lot. Switch off the outside world this Christmas. Put your smartphone on the mantelpiece or away in a box. The outside world will still be there when you switch it back on the next day. Above all, do not make people feel that you are just paying lip service to their desire for company. Do not give any hint that you want to be anywhere else but there. For a few days, build up a new habit of making those around feel like the most important people in your live. Because they are.
And do this after a year where we have already spent much time at home. Get down on the floor and share the games; take it easy on the booze; the world that’s boozy and hazy for you might be hellish for someone else who just wants your sober company. Don’t let your children have Christmas memories that revolve around drunkenness and rows.
Adults have a responsibility to create memories for those whose lives will stretch away decades and decades into the future. As keepers of the flame of memory, do what you can to lift someone’s heart, to restore the honest decency of friendship and love. Last year I wrote in this editorial that “Next week brings a new year, a new decade, perhaps a new way of living our lives.” And so it was, although not exactly what I had in mind. It did show however the eternal capacity of tomorrow to be the most surprising day of all. And that’s what makes life so wonderfully and frighteningly unpredictable.
Stay safe, eye on the prize, respect and mind each other.
On behalf of the management and staff of the Galway Advertiser and its sister newspapers around the country, I would like to wish you a very happy and fulfilling Christmas. This is the Advertiser’s 50th Christmas in Galway and we had great plans to mark that event. In the end, we marked it by doing what we do best. Keeping you informed and serving as your local platform for opinion and information. We thank you for your loyalty and for allowing us the opportunity to inform, entertain, and, no doubt, occasionally infuriate you over the past year. We thank those who support us through advertising, which allows us to sustain this wonderfully Galway medium; We thank you too for your comments, both for and against our commitment to allow as many diverse voices as possible to be heard through our pages and on our increasingly popular Facebook and Twitter facilities. Thank you for letting us into your homes and into your minds. Be forever aware that we will always be backing our community, your community, to be a positive presence in your corner.
Thar cheann an Galway Advertiser gach dea ghuí i gcomhair na Nollag agus na hathbhliana.
