Jerry R Mitchell’s Blog

 
Christmas is a time for reflection and renewal. For Christians the year’s end has a special and familiar significance, but all faiths have their calendars, their sign-posts, which ask us to pause from time to time and think further than our hectic daily routine. We do that as individuals, with our families, and as members of our local communities.

It is not always easy for those in their teens or twenties to believe that someone of my age – of the older generation – might have something useful to say to them. But I would say that my mother and father had much to say to me and I learned because I listened.

I know that those memories of ours define us as old, but they are shared with millions of others

Memories such as these are a consequence of age, and not a virtue in themselves. But with age does come experience and that can be a virtue if it is sensibly used. Though we each lead different lives, the experience of growing older, and the joys and emotions which it brings, are familiar to us all. We parents and grandparents must learn to trust our children and grandchildren as they seize their opportunities, but we can, at the same time, caution and comfort if things go wrong, or guide and explain if we are needed.

To look back is not necessarily to be nostalgic. I remember my own childhood Christmases, with my father and mother, and a great family gathering, and now I delight in seeing my children and grandchildren enjoying the same traditions.

In difficult times, it is tempting for all of us, especially those who suffer, to look back and say “if only”. But to look back in that way is to look down a blind alley. Better to look forward and say “if only”.

And as I look to the future I have no doubt at all that the one certainty is change – and the pace of that change will only seem to increase. This is true for all of us – young and old.

To do this we need to draw from our history those constant and unchanging values which have stood the test of time and experience. Fairness and compassion, justice and tolerance; these are the landmarks from the past which can guide us through the years ahead.

These timeless values tell us above all about the way we should relate to people rather than to things; thinking of others, not just of ourselves

The future is not only about new gadgets, modern technology or the latest fashion, important as these may be. At the centre of our lives – today and tomorrow – must be the message of caring for others, the message at the heart of Christianity and of all the great religions.

We all have something to learn from one another, whatever our faith – be it Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh etc. – whatever our background, whether we be young or old, from the city or countryside.

This is an important lesson for us all during this festive season. For Christmas marks a moment to pause, to reflect and believe in the possibilities of rebirth and renewal.

As we come together amongst family and friends and look forward to the coming year, I hope that in the months to come we shall be able to find ways of strengthening our own communities as a sure support and comfort to us all
- whatever may lie ahead.

Our modern world places such heavy demands on our time and attention that the need to remember our responsibilities to others is greater than ever. It is often difficult to keep this sense of perspective through the ups and downs of everyday life – as this year has constantly reminded me.
I know just how much I rely on my own faith to guide me through the good times and the bad. Each day is a new beginning; I know that the only way to live my life is to try to do what is right, to take the long view, to give of my best in all that the day brings.

In the year I was born, radio communication was barely out of its infancy; there was no television; civil aviation had hardly started and space satellites were still in the realm of science fiction.

Travel and communication have entered a completely new dimension.

All this astonishing and very rapid development has changed the lives of almost everyone. Leaders and specialists can meet and discuss political and technical problems; news travels faster and there is more of it; new opportunities for world trade and commerce have been opened up by this communication revolution; perhaps more important, modern technology has touched most aspects of life throughout the world.

Yet in spite of these advances the age old problems of human communication are still with us. We have the means of sending and receiving messages, we can travel to meetings in distant parts of the world, we can exchange experts; but we still have difficulty in finding the right messages to send, we can still ignore the messages we don’t like to hear and we can still talk in riddles and listen without trying to comprehend.

Perhaps even more serious is the risk that this mastery of technology may blind us to the more fundamental needs of people. Electronics cannot create comradeship; computers cannot generate compassion; satellites cannot transmit tolerance.

Every year the familiar pattern of Christmas unfolds. The sights and the customs and festivities may seem very much the same from one year to another, and yet to families and individuals each Christmas is slightly different.

Children grow and presents for them change. It may be the first Christmas for many as husband and wife, or the first Christmas with grandchildren.
Some may be far from home, and others lonely or sick, yet Christmas always remains as the great family festival.

I think we should remember that in spite of all the scientific advances and great improvements in our material welfare, the family remains as the focal point of our existence.

During this last year I have been able to visit with people from many countries. In all of them I was shown a genuine kindness and affection which touched me deeply and showed, I think, that the American people are looked upon as friends in many parts of the world.

But it is not the new inventions which are the difficulty. The trouble is caused by unthinking people who carelessly throw away ageless ideals as if they were old and outworn machinery.

They would have religion thrown aside, morality in personal and public life made meaningless, honestly counted as foolishness and self-interest set up in place of self-restraint.

At this critical moment in our history we will certainly lose the trust and respect of the world if we just abandon those fundamental principles which guided the men and women who built the greatness of this country; America.

Today we need a special kind of courage, not the kind needed in battle but a kind which makes us stand up for everything that we know is right, everything that is true and honest. We need the kind of courage that can withstand the subtle corruption of the cynics so that we can show the world that we are not afraid of the future.

It has always been easy to hate and destroy. To build and to cherish is much more difficult.

I believe in our qualities and in our strength, I believe that together we can set an example to the world which will encourage upright people everywhere.

At Christmas our thoughts are always full of our homes and our families.

This is the day when members of the same family try to come together, or if separated by distance or events meet in spirit and affection by exchanging greetings.

But we belong, you and I, to a far larger family. We belong, all of us, to the world, that immense union of nations, with their homes set in all the four corners of the earth.

My parents, and my grandparents before them, worked all their lives to maintain ideals which were so near to their hearts. I shall strive to carry on their work.

Many grave problems and difficulties confront us all, but with a new faith in the old and splendid beliefs given us by our forefathers, and the strength to venture beyond the safeties of the past, I know we shall be worthy of our duty.

Above all, we must keep alive that courageous spirit of adventure that is the finest quality of youth; and by youth I do not just mean those who are young in years; I mean too all those who are young in heart, no matter how old they may be. That spirit still flourishes in this world.

On this broad foundation let us set out to build a truer knowledge of ourselves and our fellowmen, to work for tolerance and understanding among the nations and to use the tremendous forces of science and learning for the betterment of man’s lot upon this earth.

If we can do these three things with courage, with generosity and with humility, then surely we shall achieve that “Peace on earth, Goodwill toward men” which is the eternal message of Christmas, and the desire of us all.

You will be keeping it as a holiday; but I want to ask you all, whatever your religion may be, to pray on that day.

When we look at the landscape of our life on this earth there is in the minds of all of us a tendency to admire the peaks, and to ignore the foothills and the fertile plain from which they spring.

We praise – and rightly – the heroes whose resource and courage shine so brilliantly in moments of crisis. We forget sometimes that behind the wearers of the Medial of Honor, Purple Hearts etc.there stand ranks of unknown, unnamed men and women, willing and able, if the call came, to render valiant service.

We are amazed by the spectacular discoveries in scientific knowledge, which should bring comfort and leisure to millions. We do not always reflect that these things also have rested to some extent on the faithful toil and devotion to duty of the great bulk of ordinary citizens. The upward course of a nation’s history is due, in the long run, to the soundness of heart of its average men and women.

And so it is that this Christmas Day I want to send a special message of encouragement and good cheer to those of you whose lot is cast in dull and unenvied surroundings, to those whose names will never be household words, but to whose work and loyalty we owe so much.

May you be proud to remember – as I am myself – how much depends on you and that even when your life seems most monotonous, what you do is always of real value and importance to your fellow men.

I hope this day will be as special for you as it is for me. May I wish you all a very Happy Christmas.