There are emotions with which most anyone can relate as the holiday season peaks and a new year arrives with the swiftness of the wind. Cheerful, catchy songs grace the airwaves and classic movies with warm lessons at their centers are in theaters and on television. We travel great distances to be near those we love to share in the magic of this special time with them. Everywhere we look, decorations are hung in splendid fashion to honor the times.
But it is when we are reveling in the joy of the season that another all too familiar emotion creeps up on us and settles in some corner of our minds. For some of us, it is a tiny sentiment and for others it is one so great that it cannot be ignored. While the joy of the season is in full swing, this feeling can quietly go about making us feel just a bit distracted, just a little less happy. The sentiment I am speaking of is ordinary sadness; somehow it has a way of making itself more prevalent in the times when we are supposed to be happiest.
During those times, we share stories, meals and love with those close to us. I recall my excitement at the approaching Christmas season when I was a child. On Christmas Eve, my family and I would share a feast in the Italian tradition. Loud conversations were spoken half in Italian, half in English through grins and mouthfuls of pasta and perhaps too much wine. Accordions played Italian music and we all sang along, not caring we were somewhat off tune. Of course at the head of the whole production was my grandmother, with all her love and compassion. It was during those Christmases that I looked around at a full table, and found myself to be happiest - a happiness that can only be produced in the innocence of childhood.
Since then, the size of that table has diminished, as it has with many tables. In growing older, I now find the word Christmas does not carry the same connotation of jubilance it once did. For others, this may result from similar circumstances or perhaps countless other tribulations.
James Stewart's role as downtrodden George Bailey in the classic Christmas film, It's a Wonderful Life mirrors our desperation in these times. At the peak of the Christmas season, George runs into trouble at work and is so upset, he feels it may have been better had he never been born. As the story ends, however, after a little help from a celestial friend, George realizes although he has problems, he should treasure the gifts he has.
In retrospect, the comforting thing about all of this is that sadness, even in the happiest of times, is human nature. We must take love and gratitude into account as they represent the true meaning of the holidays, regardless of our individual creeds and races.
We must embrace the gift of life we have been given, even when life is not dealing us a great hand. Lastly, and most importantly, we must realize that as people with the capacity to do good, we can look within ourselves and find the little piece of George Bailey that lies in all of us.
Anthony Wakim is a freshman studying philosophy and pre-law and a stringer for The Post's campus staff. Send him an e-mail at aw311807@ohiou.edu.
4 Opinion
Anthony Wakim
