Dickens’ family grew up in one of London’s debtor prisons – where families and children were legally forced to live in squalor if the household debts could not be paid. Those experiences became prominent in his books, none more popular than the tale A Christmas Story.
You probably know the story well. On Christmas Eve, the selfish miser Ebeneezer Scrooge is visited by ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.
In a defining scene, the Ghost of Christmas Present reveals two hidden children – a boy and girl – “yellow, meager, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility.
“Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shriveled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds. …”
When Scrooge asks if they belong to the Spirit, he is rebuffed.
“‘They are Man’s,’ said the Spirit, looking down upon them. ‘And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom.’”
Ignorance and Want. Speaking for myself and my family, we’ve never suffered much want. Sure, there are presents that never materialized under the tree. But that’s not really “want” as Dickens described it – the kind of want where you are deprived of the necessity, nourishment and energy of a healthy life.
Ignorance, however, is another story. Ignorance of others’ needs, their struggles, their loss and their pain – of those sins I am routinely guilty.
Perhaps that’s something each of us can honestly recognize within ourselves as Christmas nears. We are showered with blessings that should by most measures give us more reason to give than to receive.
We celebrate the birth of a child in Bethlehem, a Savior who gave the world hope and light and a gospel of truth and redemption. Both in a temporal and in a spiritual sense, he promised a way to overcome the ignorance and want of the world.
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Dickens was right. There will always be ignorance and want. What makes Christmas special is the chance to overcome them and help the Lord fulfill His promises to His children … to find rest and make one another’s burdens light. 
- David Cooper
- Editor
- Progressive Cattleman magazine
