So, Theresa May has announced that she is to “defend” our traditional Christmas, which apparently is being "eroded from public life by political correctness".
Well, I guess it’s good to know that she has nothing else on her plate to worry about. And, I think you will agree, the erosion of Christmas from our public life is indeed a cause for concern. This year, Costa Coffee didn’t introduce the take-away mugs with the reindeer on them until the first week in November. The large Christmas trees in Norwich’s two shopping malls didn’t appear until mid October. And shockingly, there were several weeks in July when you couldn’t so much as buy a mince pie in Tescos. Political correctness gone mad. Go Theresa, go!
But wait. Christmas means Christmas, yes. But, on reflection, what do the trappings of a traditional Christmas actually mean? Think about it. Those reindeer come from within the Single European Market, and many of them from within the European Union. Christmas trees are actually a German invention. I have it on good authority that Angela Merkel has not one, but two. And as for mince pies, well, brace yourselves, they’re actually from Turkey, and as such may be the spearhead of the long feared Turkish plot to flood the European Union with, er, mince pies. Indeed, Saint Nicholas himself is a Turk, and therefore an illegal immigrant who should be turned back by UK Border Control on Christmas night. The more one thinks about it, the more obvious it becomes that Christmas is actually a European Union plot to avert Brexit, and to frustrate the democratic mandate of the 37% of the electorate who voted for it. Take back control, Theresa!
Or maybe not. The fact is that we can be quite relaxed enjoying bits of other people’s traditions and cultures, without that meaning that we have to adopt every aspect of those traditions and cultures. The Bear family loves its (German) Christmas trees as much as any German (we have three: take that, Frau Merkel!) but we draw the line at sauerkraut with our Christmas dinner. Indeed, the ability to communicate with any human being starts with one person being able to adopt something of the other's: one of you has to learn the other’s language. And the more you adopt from the other, the better you will communicate, and the more persuasive you can be. As any mediator will tell you, the pre mediation Position Statements one sometimes sees that rubbish the other party’s case may be intellectually rigorous and legally persuasive (or may not) but they are as much use as a chocolate teapot in persuading the other side to move their position, because all the other side hears is that their own position has not been understood. Whereas the negotiator who can connect with at least part of the other side’s position, by showing that they understand it, that they accept it, and even empathise with it, will make a connection with the other side on common ground. Which connection they may be able to use to move the other side’s position. And connecting with the other side’s feelings, positions and arguments turns out not to mean abandoning all of one’s own, any more than one (or three!) Christmas trees means embracing the full German sauerkraut.
In fact, perhaps that thought is closer to the meaning of Christmas. I understand that to those who subscribe to the Christian faith, Christmas is the time when the Creator of the Universe decides to save His creation. And how does He do it? By standing apart from them and shouting at them? No, by becoming one of them. Christmas is the Festival of the Incarnation. The word became flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. Because it turns out that the only way to save people, and the only way to persuade them, and in fact the only way to live alongside them in harmony at all, is to connect with them, and one connects by sharing all or some part of their perspective on the world. Their language. Their feelings. Their point of view.
Christmas means Christmas. Obviously. Christmas also means connecting with others. Reaching out across divides to see the world as they do. And with that thought, may I wish you a very Merry Christmas. Or, as the case may be, Happy Diwali (belatedly, sorry!), Hannukah, Milad un Nabi, Rohatsu, Yule, Winterval or Religious or Non Religious Festival of Your Choice, from all of the Bear family and from everyone at mediation1st.
Stupid Bear
