Ah, the week after Christmas. For many of us, we exist in a stupor of overindulgent happy boredom.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Nowhere have we to be; nothing have we to do. A welcome relief from the frenzy of Christmas preparation tacked onto a year of work.
So bored was I this year that I watched the Christmas message of the Queen and that of President Trump. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they were quite different. Even so, I was struck by how different they were.
The Queen's Christmas message was truly nice. At nearly five minutes you might expect to tune out, but it captured my attention the whole way through. Rooted in the apparent insignificance of Christ's birth, her majesty's key theme was small steps. Her majesty remembered the moon landing, 50 years ago, where one small step changed mankind (and womankind) forever. Her majesty also remembered D-Day, 75 years ago, sharing that she could still recall how burdened her father was by the risk of the Normandy landing. Her majesty noted that today we still have division and problems, just different problems. To deal with these problems she recommended small steps, as Jesus taught - steps of love, reconciliation, peace and kindness. It is these small steps her majesty thinks will change the world, not giant leaps.
Altogether I was impressed by the genuine and insightful nature of the Queen's message, especially coming from someone whose life has been so privileged.
In comparison, President Trump's Christmas message was inane. Blink and you'll miss it at barely over a minute. He and First Lady Melania Trump whizzed through the minimum requirements - mention Jesus, thank the troops, joy to the world, the end. Two things struck me about it: first, President Trump shares nothing of himself. There is no stamp of personality; the message could have been read off auto-cue by anyone.
Second, President Trump's focus is inward. The leader of the free world is only talking to and about Americans; no one else rates a mention. This is in direct contrast to the Queen's personal yet outward focus.
I think the different Christmas messages neatly encapsulate the difference in Australia's cultural parents. Our British parent is about service, about striving to improve the lot of the world, mainly as individuals but also as a polity. This derives from the mainstream Christian view that we should love our neighbours and put their interests before our own. Our American parent, by contrast, is about deciding what we think is best for ourselves and implementing it on everyone. This derives from a Christianity that sees itself as the solution to be imposed on a broken world.
They are ultimately not compatible cultures, and we should think carefully about which parent we choose to emulate.
That's getting a bit too heavy for an overindulgent stupor, however. If you're looking for something Christmas-y to pass the time, the Queen's Christmas message is worth watching. President Trump's, not so much.
I hope you recover from your stupor in time for a happy new year!
- Christopher is an ordinary person living in Canberra. This includes full-time work, part-time study (law), going to church and parenting his three children.
