THE Yuletide season is fast approaching. While most of us are excited about it, looking forward to the arrival of family members who’ve been away for long, reunions with classmates and friends, and all those Christmas parties already lined, some aren’t.
It is also the season of melancholia, and this is what we should be most mindful of.
It’s worse now with social media where every happy event, gathering, and gift is posted.
I’m not saying don’t post. That’s a bummer to the season’s joy. You have every right to proclaim your joy and blessings. Rather, let’s also be aware that there are those suffering in silence. Just be there to share an ear or shed a tear or two without shutting the other person down and referring to him/her as a wet blanket, party pooper, or Cassandra.
We can offer a quiet afternoon over coffee, maybe, or just a chat outside the house.
You don’t even have to look out for every sad-looking friend or associate, because most likely, you will not find them. Depression takes a lot of expressions, most of the time it’s hidden behind joviality and smiles.
Melancholia during the Christmas season has long been there such that a term has already been coined for it: Christmas blues.
There is even a 1950s song with that title made popular by Dean Martin. I can still hear the scratchy deep sound of a vinyl playing this song...
May all your days be merry
Your seasons full of cheer
But ‘til it’s January
I’ll just go and disappear
Oh Santa may have brought you some stars for your shoes
But Santa only brought me the blues
Those brightly packaged tinsel covered Christmas blues...
Imagine. That’s in the 1950s when the only way our parents and grandparents knew what their friends, relatives, associates, and ordinary strangers were doing was when they were invited to witness and join in these people’s homes or sent a letter and some photographs. Today, with all
the joviality and reunions and gifts and food shared on social media, melancholia takes on a level not yet fully explored, understood, and diagnosed.
Let this season not just be a season of giving gifts and enjoying high-spirited parties, but also be the season of listening and sharing heartfelt conversations in Christ. No preaching though, just sharing a willingness to understand because the Christmas blues are real.
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