To the Editor:
Recently a friend of mine asked me a question about my religion and my faith. I answered it as honestly as I could, but when I expressed the sheer joy at knowing that God sent his son to save the lives of every man, woman and child in the world, she was taken aback and denounced this act as an “unfair act.”
The Greeting Card writer also made this same statement that there was no justification for doing this with an innocent child.
I find it interesting that these same people, along with many others, justify sending innocent people to kill and be killed everyday. Yet here was a child born, not asked to kill in order to save a few lives, yet asked to teach, help others understand and feel joy of love, hope and peace and most importantly sacrificial love and grace (forgiveness). Instead, Christ was expected to demonstrate the love and healing power of his father in order to save, not one life, not a few lives, but every life that came into the world, including yours and mine.
My friend and I have been beneficiaries of sacrificial love as parents in other countries sent their refugee children on dangerous journeys in the hope they would find a better future. We are the recipient beneficiaries of this sacrificial love and those children are now parents and contributing members of American society.
I often felt that the sacrificing parents had enough selfless love to give up the joy of their children in order to give them hope and a better future. It was an appropriate trade off and more than fair.
Everyday each of us is willing to send men and women into the enforcement of law at risk to themselves and sometimes others. We do so and call it a fair trade. We do so in police departments, fire departments and in the military. In many other cases we justify death to save a single life, including self-defense.
It is not only a criminal who expects others to suffer in his stead. We do that as well, even when we are not aware of it. The innocent are often punished as life itself has unexpected pitfalls.
Do we celebrate when a child is born? Most are delighted at the birth of a child, but some are not. Where is delight when food is gone, when babies lay weak in your arms dying of malnutrition?
Still in spite of these “unfair” circumstances that befall millions, we celebrate the birth of Christ, asked to kill not a single person, but to save the soul and life of the world. Here in this birth is the greatest gift of sacrificial love, hope, peace, grace and forgiveness. That is what the spirit of Christmas celebrates
I find that more than fair, I find it most appropriate, and heart lifting.
With joy in my heart, I wish everyone a joyous season of giving gifts that engender kindness and love and a send off into a happy new year.
Jarryl Larson, Edgecomb
