"Responsible Christmas-ing" by ARK

Either what we saw was a dead body, or a very drunk person who slept in a canal.

It was horrible. We were heading home Christmas night after a great day of celebration, when we came across a dark street. It had very minimal lighting, and you could tell that the people around that part of the neighborhood weren't partying anymore. The only form of lighting came from our own van, and also a few street lamps that barely lit anything.

After a small curve in the road, we saw it—the dead or drunk guy, lying on the canal. Only his legs and his head were noticeable. And if you haven’t been paying attention, you might not have seen him at all. The van moved forward, and darkness covered the body once more.

The sight gave us a mixture of emotions: confusion, and unnerving fear. What kind of Christmas did that man experience? More disturbing is the question: Is he still alive?

Personally, my conscience kept me awake. Had I not been extremely tired, would I be able to keep the image off my dreams. Very few of us in the van saw the man, and those who did see him dismissed it as a man who was very, very drunk.

Even homeless people don’t sleep inside canals.

IF the man was simply drunk, his friends would have taken him home…or at least helped him out of the canal, for goodness sake. Unless he was alone the entire time and got himself overdosed in alcohol all by himself, then he’d have no one to blame. He was just being irresponsible.

Looking at this angle, we could see a little resemblance with everybody else’s way of spending Christmas: Careless, to say the least.

We use the holidays as an excuse to break our own limits. We drink until we can’t recognize anyone’s faces and we spend like there’s no tomorrow. Soon enough, we find ourselves in the canals.

Sure, it comes only once a year, and nobody wants to be a killjoy. But celebrations come with responsibility. Heck, do we even remember WHY we’re allowed to party on December 25? Do we remember WHY we get a holiday bonus? It’s Christ’s birthday. We are supposed to welcome him with open arms. And I bet Christ would be disappointed if he saw us wasted and broke.

Let’s face it, the magic of Christmas comes with some form of illusion that gets us hypnotized into buying stuff we don’t need, giving gifts we can’t afford and coming up with the grandest feast ever. Sadly, when this daze wears off, we realize what we’ve done and end up regretting Christmas ever happened.

Now back to the canal man. IF he was dead, that could only mean he was murdered. What better way to celebrate Christmas than murdering someone? It’s the perfect crime. People are all busy with their celebrations that they wouldn’t be paying attention to their neighbors getting silently murdered. For the criminal: that was brilliant timing. Who knew crime can be committed on Christmas? Apparently not the victim.

Whatever it was, it only leads to one conclusion: Somebody hasn’t been very responsible with the Christmas privilege. That certain someone is definitely on Santa’s list.