Tis the season and the holidays are nearly upon us. I wanted to look over the greatest Christmas story ever told: Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” and why Ebenezer Scrooge, the greedy, miserly, misanthropic, miser is actually a lot more admirable than people realize.
For those unaware of Dickens’ masterpiece, it revolves around a mean-spirited and elderly man named Ebenezer Scrooge who despises Christmas and the entire human race. It’s only until he is visited by the ghost of his late partner Jacob Marley and three additional spirits that he is able to understand the true meaning of Christmas, which is that giving is better than receiving.
To all of that, I say…….BULLSHIT! I’m not sure if people are aware of this, nowadays, but rent and inflation has skyrocketed, people’s wages have stayed nearly stagnant and GEN-Z has coined a new phrase called “Quiet Quitting” where someone does the literal bare minimum at the job to still earn a paycheck and pay their necessities. It’s very obvious that people are more selfish than they have ever been and being altruistic and caring to other people has been put on the back burner.
It’s almost as if people in 2024 have turned into their own Ebenezer Scrooge figures and the best part is that that is okay. Being selfish to make sure that you are good in life and you are getting what you want out of life is perfectly fine and acceptable. It seems that Scrooge’s attitude towards other people and being selfish in the first act of “A Christmas Carol” might have been warranted. One could argue that he was already independently wealthy and he could have parted ways with a few of his dollars to give to the poor and needy and especially, give a raise to his lowly employee Bob Cratchit, but Scrooge, at the end of the day, is a business man and is going to do whatever needs to be done to keep his bottom line low, so that his company will still thrive.
Giving and giving and giving might sound nice but one must think of the company that they hold and the longevity of that company and it takes money to keep that longevity afloat. You can’t just flagrantly spend your hard-earned money on things that don’t matter and people who may not even deserve it and in the final act of the film, Scrooge is handing out money not taking into account how this may affect his company’s future as dishing out a large sum of money might actually be detrimental.
I understand that Dickens’ novel is nothing but pure fiction and there won’t be any ghosts visiting you on Christmas Eve to help you see the error in your ways, but being selfish is not so terrible and should not be shamed as such. More people should ask for their worth and demand more if they are truly working hard and should strive for a better and more comfortable life like Ebenezer Scrooge. Judging by his accommodations, Scrooge never has to worry about money ever again and can even retire in style, though given his characteristics, it seems that he would have been “content” to work and work and work until he dropped dead.
So, to the people reading this article, do not be afraid to ask for more from your boss, lover, friends, family or even for yourself. It will pay off in the long run and you will be happier and have a higher esteem of yourself. You can’t help anyone until you, first, get everything in your life in order.
