Carols By Candlelight

I got up early…..sort of…..to write. I did have to finish Marc Cameron’s new Clancy novel, “Oath of Office,” but after I took care of that, well….look at me! I am writing. While cruising around the internet doing only worthwhile things a week ago, I came across a video recording of Carols by Candlelight made in 1987. Carols by Candlelight originated in 1937 in Melbourne, Australia as the brain child of Norman Banks, a radio broadcaster. He noticed many people spending Christmas alone and wanted to reach out. In 1938 he organized the first gathering. It consisted of entertainers who sang Christmas carols and who then led the gathered crowd in singing carols. The first event had about 10,000 attendees, and it has been held annually ever since. The venue has changed to accommodate the huge numbers that now attend. Funds raised were historically given to various charities and hospitals. Since at least 1987, the funds have gone to Vision Australia, a nonprofit serving those who are blind and with low vision.

The 1987 version was the 50^th anniversary and was a great opportunity to belt out the carols with thousands of my best friends living a world away. Though Carols By Candlelight has grown into a worldwide experience with variations held the world over, including London, Dallas, San Antonio, San Diego, and Jackson, Mississippi to name a few, the original is still held on Christmas Eve in Melbourne. Events elsewhere are held at various times during the Christmas season. Last night we watched a recording of the 2017 experience, the 80^th anniversary show, and tickets are on sale for 2018 if you happen to be in Melbourne. The show starts at 1AM in Alaska; that is the morning of Christmas Eve. https://carols.visionaustralia.org/tv-and-radio

It occurred to me watching the 1987 show that I was mentally willing to suspend time, seeing an event of 30 years ago as the present. When I shook my head out and looked at the babies that were shown in the videotape made then, it was difficult to imagine them at 31 or 32 years old today. The 2017 edition featured a performer, Silvie Paladino, only 16 at the 50^th anniversary show, and who was suddenly 46. She has aged well and has a beautiful voice….and a much prettier dress now…, but in an instant she is 30 years older!

This happens to all of us. Our mental snapshot of a person is as the last time we saw them. Not long ago a friend posted a group picture of our 5^th grade class. While I could not put a name on every face, every face was burned away into the recesses of my brain. I could look at them and imagine them in class or on the playground, suspended in time. Imagining the experiences, the joy and pain and happiness and sorrow that has gone on in each of the lives of my 5^th grade classmates robs them and me of the health and innocence we all once had, even if it only exists in my mind.

 I’ll be turning 65 this year and I count myself as lucky that I am healthy and well and that joy has outweighed sorrow in my life many times over. I attribute that to good genes, a good upbringing, a good wife, a good education, good luck, and being blessed by my Father in Heaven in more ways than I deserve. I know that some of my classmates have not been as fortunate, and perhaps some more so.

Reality is that worrying over what advantages we did or didn’t have is a pointless exercise. The good fairy will not swoop down and wave a magic wand to give us all the things we think we should have had. The only real answer for each of us is to do the best we can every day and trust that it will lead us to the best outcome.

Evil and misfortune truly exist in the world and it is heart-breaking and rage-inducing to be a recipient, or even a witness. We all watched the videos of the “Knock-Out Game” a few years ago where an innocent person walking down the street would be struck by an attacker with the goal of knocking him out in one blow. That seemed to me to be an iconic example of evil, and we are all potential victims. It might be a thief who breaks into our home or one who uses the internet to clean out our bank account. It might be a fire or an earthquake that robs us of all we have. We all want justice, but justice is rarely obtained and never fulfilling. The loss will still be there and the sooner we put it behind us and focus on making ourselves whole again, the sooner we will recover; physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

The message of the Christmas season, and of the life and mission of Jesus Christ is that when we stop focusing on ourselves and focus on making others whole, we will find that we also have become whole. 

 “I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17).