Monday 25 December 2023

If they cancelled Christmas

 

If they cancelled Christmas

 

Christmas means something to everyone

Not to say it’s all tinsel and fun,

Some might prefer if it was gone,

For them, not a happy season.

 

Christmas, ostensibly, a Christian holy day:

Jesus, as they like to say,

Is the reason

For the Season.

 

His birth, the Nativity, is what it’s all about

The narrative of what came about

Recounted, reenacted, year in and year out.

We love to tell the story (or is it stories?)

 

Of Mary and her fiancé, Joe and the little donkey, in tow.

Going down to crowded Bethlehem, the stable, the manger,

The angels, shepherds and three kings.

Who cares if it didn’t actually happen in quite the same way.

 

The songs we sing to tell the stories are widely known and sung.

Caroling in the high streets and on the market square,

Also in schools, churches and cathedrals, in fact anywhere.

There are famous carols in many a different tongue.

 

Then there are the meta-Christmas doings,

Cards and presents and Christmas trees,

Decorations and multicoloured LED’s

Turkeys, puddings, mulled wine and mince pies

Gingerbread houses, crackers! What’s the prize?

 

And who could forget Old Saint Nick?

We love pantos, and plays and a good Christmas flick.

Dicken’s Christmas Carol with Scrooge and Tiny Tim,

The Nutcracker Ballet and Midnight Express

 

I’m sure every reader could add things

Of which I’m not aware, or about which I forgot.

But what if for some reason all of it was gone

Christmas banned and prohibited – how’d we cope.

 

How would this change us if every vestige was eliminated?

I imagine and believe that people for whom the belief is real,

Though the paraphernalia might have been taken away,

But the core belief will remain unmoved.

 

My question I believe reaches beyond the merely hypothetical

Conjecture and speaks to our ability to empathise

With people in desperate straights, like people in war situations

Find things that mean a lot are taken away.

 

Sometimes it’s not prohibition but life’s realities

Mean Christmas cannot happen in the same way.

So as we celebrate this festivity, let’s spare a thought and perhaps a prayer

For people finding it tough at this time of year.

 

Sunday 19 November 2023

Hot and Cold

Lying in the hot tub, chilling 

Thinking about temperature:

A good looking person is really hot

But if they're nasty then they're cold as ice

An angry person has a hot temper

And if they're furious, they're fuming.


A popular person is really cool,

but a friendly person is warm hearted.

If you're angry with someone, you may give them the cold shoulder

But if you're in trouble or in charge at work, you're in the hot seat.


A sensitive topic is a hot potato 

But a hot button issue gets everyone talking and definitely arguing.

An addict who wants release may try going cold turkey. 

That is a brave thing to do but they might get cold feet.


Chilling in the hot tub, 

The hot streak of ideas has turned into a trail gone cold

I'd better get out and get dressed

Before I catch a cold


Thursday 19 January 2023

Same Struggle - Different Differences

Same Struggle — Different Differences 

It’s the same struggle – always. 

One group – very powerful. 

Another group powerless. 

Pushed down, shut out 

Despised, disrespected. 

 

Whether with blatant violence or subtle discrimination 

The ultimate aim is just the same.  

With deliberate downright deception  

to create unwarranted dread and hate 

To build up walls of separation 

They’d prefer if you were ‘late’.  

 

But the Powerless don’t stay powerless 

You start to say ENOUGH 

You find your strength in UNITY 

As you begin to stand up. 

 

So, the struggle starts – 

The struggle requires resistance – the refusal to submit. 

The struggle requires courage the willingness to commit. 

 

Oppressors demand your silence – to shut your mouth, to hide away. 

To comply with their instructions – to obey. 

But you say, “No way”. 

You’ll no longer abide their bigotry. 

You’ll no longer regard their authority 

You’ll stand up to their abuse... 

So, the struggle continues 

 

It’s the same struggle always – the differences are different.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discrimination against the differently abled is an ongoing fight... 

Treating humans like trash because we cannot talk or lost our sight. 

Looking down on us with their pity – not appreciating our worth. 

We have a place and role like everybody. 

We’re entitled to our dignity 

Whether our difference is physical, mental or sensory, 

 

Let us be the people we’re meant to be, 

Celebrate our victory 

Stop making up policy 

for us but without us” 

As if we have no mind of our own 

We demand the opportunity  

To make our opinions known.  

 

Rosa Parkes resisted she’d take her rightful seat. 

Martin marched on Washington – he had a dream.  

Stonewall was the spark that started the conflagration 

For LGBTQ people against discrimination. 

Emmeline, with her sisters fought fiercely for the vote,  

With that Women’s Suffrage, the ‘glass ceiling has been smote 

So the struggle continues... 

 

I can speak of many battlegrounds of hate, 

Of oppressions of ideology – of Apartheid 

Of Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo, 

Huddleston and Tutu. 

Of Marsha B Johnson and Harvey Milk 

Peter Tatchell and Greta Thunberg 

To mention but a few 

 

The differences are different but the same struggle will continue. 

 

John Fairlamb 1/2022 

 

 

If they cancelled Christmas

  If they cancelled Christmas   Christmas means something to everyone Not to say it’s all tinsel and fun, Some might prefer if it wa...