What ‘A Christmas Carol’ Can Teach Us About Social Justice

by Nathaniel Whittemore

Published December 24, 2008 @ 06:43PM PT

When I was growing up, one of my family's most important Christmas traditions was Maine Mall's holiday Giving Tree. Usually run by the Salvation Army, the Giving Tree had little tags with a child's name, age, and the type of presents they were hoping to get that holiday season. The idea was that you'd buy the child the items on the list, and the Salvation Army would give those presents to the child's parents to give them for the holiday.

I remember one year, as I got older, thinking about the "value" of that act of kindness. Were we just perpetuating the commercialism of a retail Christmas, I wondered? Were their other things that would do more to make the world a better place? But my parents always insisted. They explained that it wasn't about the items. It was about making sure that on the Christmas morning, everyone knew that to someone, they were special, they were important, they were treasured.

The holidays are a good time to think about that which we share with others, and reaffirm our commitment to more equitable and just world. My favorite Christmas story has always been Charles Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol." Originally written to help pay off a debt, Dickens' "little Christmas book," was an overnight success (at least in Victorian terms) and inspired something of a revival of Christmas traditions in 19th century London. Each year, when I re-read the story I think about how much, even 160 years later, we can learn from the story.

5. Business means more than profit.
Perhaps the most basic lesson that Scrooge learns is that there is more to life than profit maximization. In one of the most memorable scenes, Ebenezer's once-partner Jacob Marley, doomed to walk as a ghost among his fellow men for eternity, recoils when Scrooge suggests that he should look at his life proudly because he had been a "good man of business."

"Business!" cried the Ghost... "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

Yet as it relates to this blog, it's worth noting what the book wasn't. It wasn't an anti capitalist tome. Scrooge's conclusion was not that he needed to become a hermit or an ascetic; it was that he needed to become a better businessman and a better person by expanding his social vision.

4. Empathy is the heart of charity and justice.
In the story, Scrooge is visited by three ghosts who help him better understand his world. The Ghost of Christmas Present shows him holiday celebrations from around the city - from the very modest fire of the homeless and destitute to the warm and well-to-do gathering of his niece and nephew. Scrooge's vision of Tiny Tim, the crippled but courageous son of his only employee, Bob Cratchet, begins to melt his icy veneer. When the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come shows Scrooge a Cratchet-family Christmas in which Tim has passed on, Scrooge breaks down and vows that something must be done to ensure that that particular future does not come to pass.

Empathy, our ability to put ourselves in another's shoes and understand life the way they live it, is the heart of charity and justice.

3. A society is only as strong as its weakest member.
The Tiny Tim story also highlights another theme - that any society is only as strong as its weakest member. Before Scrooge's transformation, Tim is poised to die a needless death. As Dickens saw it, an early Industrial Revolution Victorian society that had not prioritized the care of its weakest and most vulnerable was culpable in the tragedy.

In one of the most dramatic moments of the story, the Ghost of Christmas Present admonishes Scrooge's for his cynical view that he had no obligation to the city's poor. Pulling back his robe, the spirit reveals two decrepit children "yellow, meager, ragged...but prostrate...in their humility."

"This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both...but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it!...Slander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse! And bide the end!"

2. Start close to home.
When we first meet Scrooge, he has pushed away all of his relationships for his love of money. We see him turn down his nephew Fred's Christmas dinner invitation, famously declaring Christmas a ‘Humbug!" Later, with the Ghost of Christmas Past, we see him give up a chance at love to nurture his career and income.

As he traverses with the spirits, he becomes more remorseful and longs for the life he could have had. He sees the pure joy that his employee Bob Cratchet's family shares despite their meager surroundings, and their devastation at the loss of their son later in the story.

I've always thought it was important that upon waking on Christmas a changed man, Scrooge seems to behave as though his most important task is not the charitable donation he makes, or his commitment to being a better friend and employer to the Cratchets, although those things matter greatly. His most important task is to beg the pardon of his nephew and re-invest in the little family he has left.

In the long run, we can only be as happy as we make those around us.

1. Transformation is possible.
I believe "A Christmas Carol" has stayed an important part of our holiday tradition because it affirms the power of redemption. The moment of recognition Scrooge has upon waking on Christmas to realize that he has a second chance is one of the most joyous moments in our entire literary canon.

In a year that ends crushed by recession, scandal, and insecurity, its worth remembering that it was a story of our ability to transform, overcome, and make anew our world that propelled the son of a Kenyan immigrant father and a single mother from Kansas to the White House.

At its core, a commitment to social justice is a commitment to work to transform the world to be a more equitable, healthy, safe, and happy place. The story of Scrooge is, in its own small way, a reminder that transformation is possible. Happy Holidays!