Transcription
Well, good morning to you and merry Christmas. Whatever your religion or lack thereof, it is still a beautiful thing to observe Christmas day. Even as a mere marking of the times or seasons when we all, men and women, agree to stop work and make merry together. It is a wise, wholesome, and beautiful custom. It reminds us all to set our own little watch by the great clock of humanity.
But there's a better thing than just the observance of Christmas day and that is living Christmas every day. 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 about 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 bit more than your duty in the foreground. To see that your fellow men and women are just as real as you are. Try to look beyond their faces into their hearts and see their hunger 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 sew a few seeds of happiness. Are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can live Christmas.
Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and desires of little children? To remember the weaknesses 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 really want without wanting them to tell 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 live Christmas.
Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world? Stronger than any hate, stronger than any evil, stronger than death, then you can live Christmas. And if you live it for a day, why not always? But remember, you can never live Christmas alone. Embrace your loved ones today as I embrace you this Christmas morning. Merry Christmas, my dear friends.