Saturday, December 21, 2013

Christmas a time to-reunite our families

                                                             Family unit the basic source of happiness
Once again Malaysians have got into the festive mood of Christmas, New Year and to be followed soon by the Chinese New Year. As usual we tend to celebrate our respective festivals grandly with a spirit of goodwill and sharing. Unfortunately the escalating costs this year will be a major burden that will dampen our spirits, especially the poor, during this season of festivities.
Christmas is a time for not just feasting and merry-making as portrayed by the highly commercialized media but one of sharing and repentance. Seeking forgiveness from those we hurt is an important part of Christmas, which is often overlooked. In fact celebrating Christmas will be meaningless if one harbors ill feeling and hatred for someone, either inside or outside the family.
Apart from that, like other festivities, Christmas is a time for family bonding and rebuilding of families that may have gone astray for some reason. In many instances families disintegrate after the death of the parents especially the mother, who acts as the cement keeping the children together.
It is extremely sad many children don’t realize the importance of maintaining the family unity especially after the passing of their parents. They allow petty disputes to break up the once united family. This I feel is the reason for many in their fifties and after to lament that Christmas is no more joyous as it used to be   when they were young.  
It is indeed true that most of us miss our good old days when we used to take pains to travel back home to be with our parents and siblings to spend some memorable time together. It did not cost us much then but the time spent was so enjoyable that we cannot forget the feelings of joy that we used to experience them. The pleasant memories of what we used to do together as a family still remains vividly in our minds which makes as sad that things today are not as they used to be.  
This Christmas it may be a time to review our relationship with the members of our family. Are we united like we use to be? If not what is our contribution to this disunity or disintegration of our family. What can we do to rebuild the unity we used to enjoy before?
Most of us have to some extent contributed for the disunity in our families and all we need to do is to accept that fact and sacrifice a little of our likes for the sake of a brother or sister to undo the bad we have done. We can be a little more generous to help out a brother or sister in need. That may be all that is needed to start the process of reunion.
The family unit is the most important source for the success and well being of any community.Our happiness to come directly or indirectly from that family unit which must be protected at all costs. 
As brothers and sisters the common among us far outnumber the differences and as the saying goes it is indeed very true that blood is thicker than water in most cases. As we celebrate this Christmas, let us be a little more charitable and let that charity begin in our own families, among our own siblings whom we always loved.
Wishing all a meaningful and joyous Christmas

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