Weekly Blog - 17 November 2024 - Ethical Christmas

With Christmas on the horizon, this week we have a guest blog from Neil Fix, a brilliant member of Arise's Council of Reference, who considers two things we can do to make our Christmas more ethical.

 

Ethical Christmas

I've been thinking a lot about Christmas recently.  I know that some of you reading want to put off thinking about it as long as possible, and I appreciate that.  Christmas is a busy time, heading into the end of the year, and can be stressful because of that, so I understand the reluctance; but I don't really get a choice in the matter.  For two reasons, the first one being that I work in a shop, so it's kind of hard to miss.  I mean, I work in an outdoor shop, and even we have a gift section.  Thankfully, we don't have any Christmas music instore yet; but being in the centre of town, it's difficult to miss.

And the second reason is that I have to start thinking about buying presents early.  Not only because it's not always easy, but because I have to buy presents for people in another country, so I have to be able to post them in early December.  Well, I say 'have to', it's entirely my choice to send them presents.  And, to be honest, a lot of the busyness and stress that we put ourselves through is at least partly self-inflicted.

But it's always worth remembering that there are people who have stresses this time of year that are not self-inflicted – and then thinking about what we could do to help.  I often think about the parable of the Good Samaritan, and the idea that we should be willing to help anyone.  Which includes many people we have never, and will never meet.

So, how could we, I, you, anyone, help people we've never met, especially at this time of year?  And, if we're only just starting to think about it, is there any way we can do this simply?  I suggest that are two things we could think about doing.

 

Donating to charity

The first is donating to charity.  I'm guessing that most people reading this already do that, but this time of year is very important for charities for two reasons.  One is that one off donations often go down at this time of year, simply because people are spending more than they would usually, so they don't think about donating as well.  If you can't, then you can't – don't let this be an extra expense or stress in your life.  But if you can, please consider doing something.  A recent blog from Arise suggested some great charities you could donate to.  The other reason is that some charities have extra expenses at this time of year, or even specific Christmas projects.  And there's often a very easy way to donate specifically to Christmas projects, as a lot of shops will donate things.  Grocery shops will donate food, toy shops will donate gifts.  They will often have a box near the entrance or tills in order that people can add one or two items when they shop. They will also have a sign on the box saying what they need, to make it even easier, so you don't need to try to work out what to donate. 

So all you have to do is remember to add one or two items to your shopping, and drop it in the box. The other great thing about this is that you know where it's going, because it tells you.  Most often it will be in your local area. It could be a local food bank, or maybe a local organisation is putting together Christmas hampers for local people in need.  My church does this, and I can still remember a moment from the first time I helped with this, helping deliver to individual families.  I can clearly remember one house we went to, where the lady started unpacking the box while we were there.  I remember one thing clearly, because it surprised me.  I remember there were things in the box like butter and ketchup, as well as some more Christmas type items – I realised that the reason for that was that, if people are given some of those basics, then they could spend their money on other things, like presents for the children.  Not only that, but, more importantly, they then had some choice about what they did for Christmas.

 

Charity shops

Choice is an incredibly powerful thing, which is why one of the most common definitions of poverty is lack of choice.  Giving people choice gives them agency, self-respect and esteem.  Which brings us neatly onto the second thing we can do, which is helping charity shops.  Of course, shopping there helps – the more they sell, the more the charity benefits.  And buying second-hand gifts and items, rather than new products every time, is better for the environment too.  But there's actually one other important way in which we could help.  A lot of people have some sort of clear out early in the year, for various reasons.  Unwanted Christmas gifts, things replaced by gifts, New Year's resolutions leading them to get rid of things; and this is great, charity shops are always needing donations.  But, one great way to help them is to do this now; in the run up to Christmas.  The more donations shops get at this time, now, before Christmas, the more choice they will have.  And if you want to do it after Christmas as well, I'm sure the shops will be more than happy to take stuff then too. 

So I'll wish you a merry Christmas and a good preparation time, with one or two ideas you may not have had in the front of your mind.

 

Find out more

Arise Manifesto – Find out more about ethical choices we can all make in our own lifestyles in the Arise Manifesto, Arise’s big picture, researched, Biblical, holistic and practical vision for a better world. 

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