THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 25, 1994 TAG: 9412230282
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: Ron Speer
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
``Christianity is a great religion,'' a wise man once said. ``Somebody ought to try it some time.''
At Christmas, sometimes, we come close.
We become givers and not takers. We say please and thank you. We love our brothers and our sisters.
We worship, sometimes for the first time all year.
And then, as quickly as it came, the spirit leaves many of us for months and months until we again start practicing Christianity in anticipation of the next celebration of Christ's birth.
Thankfully, there ARE people who do good things all year.
Sometimes they are neigbors, folks in the block who show kids how to make whistles, bring food when somebody's sick, comfort you silently when you are crushed with grief, sit in the auditorium cheering for your daughter in her first acting role when you can't get off work, or break the monotony of a dull weekend by organizing a neighborhood picnic.
Sometimes they are volunteers, who for whatever their reasons make life a bit better for residents of nursing homes and hospitals, the depressed who cry out for conversation, the unwed teenagers facing motherhood alone, the fatherless boys and motherless girls who need a big brother or big sister, the homeless or abused or hungry, the kids who want to be Scouts.
Sometimes they are teachers, who dedicate nearly every moment to their classroom charges, spend their own money to help their students learn, give up nights and weekends to help broaden the lives of youngsters whose environment is limited, provide a shoulder when nobody else will listen. I wager that more teachers are singled out than anyone else when people are asked to name the most influential person in their life.
Sometimes they are the clergy, whose reputation hinges mostly on their eloquence from the pulpit on Sunday mornings but who spend most of their time counseling and caring behind the scenes, helping the troubled, the lonely, the doubters, the misfits, the divorcing, the drunks, the homewreckers.
Sometimes they are politicians, who bare their souls and go naked into the arena amidst the boos from the multitudes who can't find time to vote but spend hours with talk-show blowhards who rarely have a kind word about anybody.
And sometimes they are children, who in troubled families become big sister, big brother, man of the house, caring mother.
So on this Chrismas morn, I ask us all to remember those who practice Christianity all year long. Call them, and say thanks.
And then let us all think about how in our family or in our commnity or in our work we could all extend the Christmas spirit a week or a month or a year or a lifetime.
I hope you'll take time to write your decisions below. Share them with those you love or admire. And if you'll send them to to me, I'll share them with others who have the spirit. by CNB