A Christmas Journey

Many years have passed

Since my last Christmas tale

Due to my holiday spirit

Continuing to fail

 

Christmases came and went

An annual time marker

Each year, my views became

Increasingly darker

 

Such evil in the world

With no rhyme or reason

How could I enjoy

The Christmas season?

 

One night I was brooding

With my cynical gloom

When a visitor suddenly

Appeared in my room

 

It had been many years

Since we had last met

But Santa was back

Not done with me yet

 

“Your mood has been noticed”

He did solemnly declare

As he led me out

Into the winter night air

 

“You need more perspective

So come with me

On a trip around the world

With much you should see”

 

My hopes were small

A pitiful microbe

Yet I joined Santa

On this journey of the globe

 

I climbed into his sleigh

And we then did depart

But grim feelings stayed

Within my cold heart

 

We travelled far and wide

North, South, East, and West

But to me, everything seen

Was just as bad as the rest

 

In Colombia, we saw

Families and friends cry

For to a young man

They were saying goodbye

 

In the wrong place

And at the wrong time

An innocent victim

Of a drug-fueled crime

 

Deep in the Amazon

The river flows with refuse

For the natives, lives and culture

They continue to lose

 

We visited Munich

And its boisterous beer halls

Where years ago, the world

First heard Nazi calls

 

To more and more nations

We continued to travel

And mankind it seemed

Continued to unravel

 

Chain linked camps we see

Holding many a family

From much brutality

They so desperately flee

 

Around South Africa

Reminders of apartheid

Separating humanity

Across a racial divide

 

We walked the streets of India

Poverty filled the air

Beggars constantly asking

What people could spare

 

Many people I met

With deep struggles within

Some hoping to die

Just so their pain would end

 

Throughout the world

Greed and exploitation

Men, women, and children

Living in desperation

 

Drugs and bodies for sale

Filling a depraved appetite

With hardly any semblance

Of a sense of wrong or of right

 

We take what we want

Caring not for suffering

For we have come to view

Each person as a thing

 

As it seemed our trip

Was coming to a close

Nothing was better

And my anger then rose

 

“Why show me this?

To show the world’s not fair?

Or simply to prove

That God does not care?”

 

Santa looked at me

Slowly shook his head

Then sighed deeply

And finally said

 

“For as intelligent as you

Think yourself to be

You have missed the point

Of this entirely”

 

“Let’s try again”

With frustration on his lip

“But pay attention

On this second trip”

 

“Focus not on problems

Or those that complain

For they do nothing

To ease the world’s pain”

 

“Pay attention to those

Who make it their charge

To make any difference

Be it small or be it large”

 

To many of those places

We then did return

But now I witnessed

Faith and hope burn

 

In a country that suffered

Decades of war and strife

Young and old worked together

Towards peace and a better life

 

I met people who in the past

Had lost a close friend

And in his honor now

Help their community to mend

 

Volunteers keep watch

Over cold, treacherous seas

In case rescue is needed

Of scared and desperate refugees

 

In sight of Kilimanjaro

And in the land down under

Humans dedicated to animals

Their work I watched in wonder

 

I walked through cells

Of men that risked all

To fight oppression

Answering history’s call

 

We sailed on a ship

Crossing the rolling sea

The crew working together

Overcoming any disability

 

Across the world were many

Who have made their vocation

Giving children in need

Both health and education

 

For a year and a half,

Santa took me everywhere

To witness shining examples

Of heroes that care

 

At last we completed

That journey so indirect

Santa then gave me something

On which to reflect

 

“You dwell on the world’s ills

Wondering what God will do

But He’s already begun

He has created you”

 

“Yes, the world has problems

Across a great range

But He’s given each the power

To bring about change”

 

It’s time for me to end

Wishing Merry Christmas

But before I go

I leave you with this

 

Always remember

Every action has worth

So what is the Christmas gift

You will give to the Earth?