6 - Wednesday, December 24, 1986 - North Shore News News Viewpoint ‘Commercial’ Xmas ne perennial feature of the modern Christmas is the hand-wringing by sincere, well-meaning people over its so-called ‘‘commercialization’’. In fact, the festival has been ‘‘commercialized’’ ever since that first Christmas Day in Bethfehem. There was ao room at the ina because the town was chockablock with celebrating holiday crowds which—on the scale of those fimes—were doubtless spending as freely as the crowds thronging today’s malls, Nor should the long term benefits of the Christmas buying spree be underestimated. Without = the Christmas shoppers many merchants who depend on them for 30-40% of their income wouldn't survive at all to serve us the year round. Wide related sectors of the economy would suffer equatly. Since we du expend infinite thought, time and moncy to make Christmas the biggest party of the year, at Jeast there’s the best of all reasons for it. The anniversary of Christ’s birth symbolizes, in a very real sense, a new ‘‘birth’’ for ourselves—the point, as the old year dies, where we can relax awhile to remember its good things, give pleasure to fellow humans, enjoy precious hours with loved ones and friends, and spin hopes for the new year about to be born. That’s the spirit of Christmas which, after nearly 20 centuries, still lives on in the crowded stores and mar- kets of 1986. There’s no need to apologize for the ma- terial trappings with which we mark it—most of them, in fact, representing thought and love for others—so tong as we remember to pay, each in our own way, our respects {o the Child whose birthday it really is. las terri CHRISTMAS WEEK is the week of the year dreaded by columnists—some of whom have been known to seek refuge in a detox centre or jump from the 17th floor as the Christmas issue deadline loomed. The other 51 weeks columnists earn their keep by persuading readers that they’re being regaled with original, deep and meaningful thinking on every subject under the sun. But Christmas week reduces the columnists to emperors of the word processor stripped of all ver- bal clothing. Wf you're beginning to catch a glimmer of what I’m talking about, consider for a moment the impossible odds confronting the columnist during the week that in- cludes December 25th. There have now been 1,986 Christmases—the last 400 or so all temarkably like the ones before. Newspapers and their colum- nists, more or less as we know them today, have existed for over 250 years. ; For a century or more at least 4,000 English-language papers have been publishing around the world. Today’s total is probably 10 times that figure, which takes no account of papers in all the other languages that contain the daun- ting word ‘‘Christmas’’. So the annual challenge is to write something original, deep and meaningful about Christmas that a minimum of four million other writers—a few even just possibly your equal—haven’t already beaten you to. THE VOICE OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER SUNDAY © WEDNESDAY «© 1139 Lonsdale Ave. North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 2H4 5G,287 taseringe Wed tay btetey ty Satie: Ailey t Display Advertising 980-0511 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom 985.2131 Distribution 986-1337 Subscriptions 986.1337 North Share New! te Publisher: Editor-in-Chiet Managing Editor Advertising Director Peter Speck Noel Wrght Barrett Fisher Linda Stewart thryaphies . Entire contents 1986 North Shore Free Press Lid Alt nights reserved NEWS photo Terry Pete RUTH STOUT (lett) receives a giant cheque from West Vancouver police detective Ted Johnston and West Vancouver firefighter Martin Ernst. The $1,272 cheque was raised for the West Vancouver Santa Claus Fund through the annual Police versus Fireman hockey game held earlier this month. iftes c DIFFERENT COLUMNISTS— those who resist the impulse to jump or take the bottle—seek dif- ferent solutions each year. A few tough, disciplined scrib- blers write their Christmas col- umns in July. Cynicism being the columnist’s food and drink, -it’s much easier to take cheap shots at Santa while lazing under a hot sun Noel Wright That's why so many normally fearless columnists sob uncon- trollably as the hated week ap- proaches. They know what's ex- pected of them and they know they can’t deliver. They haven't a single new thought to add about Christmas. They sit at their keyboards nak- ed and ashamed, watching the helpless cursor blink on the monitor’s empty screen. ene LETTER OF THE DAY reci Dear Editor: Christmas! Your readers are now experiencing that loveliest season of the year, so what do they think about Christmas? To numerous people, far and wide it means the celebration of Jesus Christ -- God’s gift to the world. To children who attend Sunday School it means the ex- iS citement cf rehearsing for the Christmas play and singing carols. To many elderly people it means lovely memories of Christmas past. . What though does it mean to numerous people in the Developing World? It means another day of struggling to live. The destitute and curable blind have no hope unless some person who feels ft c @ focus & on the beach or by the pool. And readers have a good = chance, anyway, of being spared the caustic results, By Christmas week a sentimental editor will likely kill the column and substitute reader Mary Doe's handwritten poem about The Three Kings. But at least the col- umnist has met his deadline and can honorably forget the whole thing for another 12 months. Some columnists arrange their vacation during late December. compassion for them sends $25 to Operation Eyesight Universal, P.O. Box 123, Stn. “M'’, Calgary, Alberta T2P 2H6. This $25 will restore a person of sight paying for hospitalization, surgery, cataract glasses and follow-up care. if the patient is the breadwinner of the family it means that he or she can once again work to provide sts oni Others book in sick on the 18th. In either case the editor, probably sighing with relief, fills the space from his file of readers’ letters on “The Oddest Christmas I Ever Had’’. FOR WHAT CCNSOLATION it’s worth, everyone else in the Christmas business shares the col- umnist’s problem. Decade after decade Christmas cards recycle the same sugary old sentiments, Stores blazon the same seductive sales pitches. Santa wears the same outfit he was born in and never even bothers to trim his beard. Christmas trees stay the same shape. So do reindeers, turkeys and plum puddings. And how long is it since anyone composed a new carol? The only things genuinely new each year—price tags—are best forgotten. Otherwise, Christmas remains as familiar and comforting as your favorite old sweater, and that’s the last straw for any self- respecting columnist. [It’s bad enough to find nothing new to write about Christmas, but worse still to find nothing BAD to write about, Even Doug Collins can't. So have a great old day again tomorrow-—just like I intend to! for their family instead of having to beg. A card is sent to each donor with name, sex, age and ad- dress of every person whose sight is restored. I have been fortunate enough to be able to help several people have their sight restored, and it is a real thrill when | receive a card show- ing that a person has received y IVE YEAR AGQ... (From the North Shore News of December 23, 1981.) A RENTERS AID office proposal to help North Shore renters getting @ bad deal from their landlords was refused funding by MPs Chuck Cook and Ron Huntington on the grounds that there was no need for such a service. Each MP had about $100,000 available in federal grants to fund community projects, ve SENIORS HOUSING PROJECT sponsored by St. Simon’s Church, Dollarton, received approval in principle from North Van District council, opening the way for fun- ding by senior governments. The 60-unit development had been crit- icized for sive steepness, density, distance from amenities and zon- ing incompatibility. eee MIDNIGHT ROBBERS in the 700 block Marine, West Van, close to Taylor Way, forced a man io hand over money and threatened to kick his face in, Phoned by the victim, police arrested four men, but laid no charges and later released them. sight. It is a greater thrill when the person restored to sight is a child. What rejoicing there must be in the family. We can never match God’s priceless gift but we can enable a blind person to see. By so doing we shall have a truly Happy and Blessed Christmas. Kay Racicot, Summerland