Another Christmas comes : Under shadow of Omicron
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 25, 2021 -
One common thread will connect the Christmas of 2020 and 2021 and like 2020, mankind will observe or celebrate the birth of Lord Jesus Christ under the shadow of the coronavirus, which has already claimed lakhs of human lives across the world. Underlines the point that COVID-19, like all other viruses and germs across the world, knows no National boundary and division based along religion, race, caste or creed.
This is one lesson that mankind should learn from the ongoing global pandemic.
What however will mark out Christmas in 2021 from the one in 2020, is the fact that a new variant is already here this time in the form of Omicron while in 2020 the Delta variant was just waiting for its time to wreak havoc and the world knows how this strain went about infecting at will and brought the whole world to its knees.
It is under the shadow of the latest strain of the virus that believers and non-believers alike will welcome the birth of Lord Jesus Christ and mark the inclusion of the term 'non-believers' here.
Down the years, Christmas or rather the birth of Lord Jesus Christ has taken on a very secular form, with mankind coming together as one to celebrate the saviour of mankind.
Whether the teachings and essence of the day is truly acknowledged or whether the celebration of Jesus Christ is taken as merely another occasion to socialise and meet people is a different matter, but the atmosphere of hope that the day brings about is undeniable.
This is where the beauty of Christmas lies, especially to the non-believers.
Another point that can be associated with Christmas this year is the looming Assembly elections with many Assembly Constituencies witnessing hectic campaigning by numerous intending candidates.
How the two jell will depend to a large extent on the people and this is where it will be interesting to watch or observe how the Christmas celebration goes along with the election campaigning.
More importantly, it would be interesting to see if the people, cutting across religious divides, can celebrate the birth of Lord Jesus Christ with a sense of responsibility amid the global pandemic.
As on any other day of celebration, the day will not be the same for everyone.
Christmas may not have any sense of importance to the family of the young student who was shot dead in a pre-poll violence at Heirok just two days back.
It will not have that much colour for the family whose near and dear ones had passed away due to the ongoing global pandemic.
What however will stand the test of time is the importance of the people extending moral support to each other in this trying times, at least in the spirit of Christmas.
This is obviously one way of making the birth of Lord Jesus Christ all that more significant.
Perhaps this is also the day for everyone to sit back and look back at the days gone by and see if they could have conducted themselves better and take steps to ensure that the follies, whether deliberate or other wise, of the last 12 months are not repeated.
This will fit in with the spirit of Christmas and to make the day all that more significant one hopes that any celebration or gathering that follows is done with a sense of responsibility.
This is what Lord Jesus Christ would have wanted, and this is perhaps the right time for all to demonstrate that they are responsible.
The Sangai Express wishes its readers, patrons and well wishers Merry Christmas.
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