There was a shrine on the top of a beautiful mountain. The path was steep and winding. One day, a girl came up carrying her little brother on her shoulder. The Pastor, admiring the girl, said that it might have been difficult to carry the boy all the way up on her shoulder. The girl said, “Father, he is my brother.” When there is love no one become a burden and nothing becomes an obstacle.
Christmas event implies seeking and finding oneself with social responsibility. Responsibility is an obligation as well as expectation for all of us. At the birth of Jesus, the simple shepherds listened to the direction of angels and found the Baby Jesus just like them in tattered clothes surrounded by animals on a manger. The Three Wise Men followed the star and found the Baby as the embodiment of wisdom and divinity; and they offered him Gold, Myrrh, and Frankincense to signify His Kingship, Humanity liable to mortality, and Divinity.
There is a legend of a fourth wise man: Seeing the Star in the East, he also started his search with other three but he realized that he was needed for the distressed and disadvantaged on the way. So, he lost track as he continued his service to the needy. Later he resumed his search for Jesus and finally met Him, according to the legend, after about thirty years, when Jesus was carrying His cross on the way to Calvary. Service to fellow human beings is more than offering gold to the poor.
Being good in oneself radiates one’s goodness to others. The Zen master from the south asked the Zen master in the north to send a person to succeed him. The Master from the north sent out five, instead of one. As they started moving along, in a village people were fighting with each other due to lack of leadership. They requested one of them to stay with them as their leader: One stayed back. A little further on, a farmer was living alone at the edge of the forest filled with wild animals. He begged for a companion for his security and safety. The second one obliged him. The three proceeded. After a few days, they found an abandoned baby on the road and it needed 24×7 attention and care. One volunteered. Then, a week later, as the remaining two passed through a desert-like place, a widow pleaded for help to put up her house. One was moved with compassion to help her. Finally, one reached the destination. Responsibility is more important and meaningful than administration and position or power. All the five have fulfilled the wish of both the masters, namely to be available and helpful to the needy and to bring meaning to the meaningless. Understand others, you would be happy; help others, you would be happier; and love all, you would be the happiest.
Sometimes we shirk our responsibility and pass the puck to the higher ups. The grandma of a boy, living on the sea-shore, had a non-healing sore in her foot. Someone suggested to the boy that if his grandma washes her feet in the sea water daily she would be fine soon. The boy went to fetch sea-water but he had a scruple: The sea-water is the common property, he said to himself, and how could I use it without proper permission? He wrote to the VAO (Village Administrative Officer) for permission to use the sea-water. The VAO smelled some trick and so he passed the letter on to the Collector. The Collector, knowing that the VAO belongs to the ruling party, did not want to get into controversy and so he passed on the request to the Minister for Water Department in the state. The Minister thought the shrewd IAS officer might have some cunning plan to trap him and so he did not want to take the responsibility. He forwarded it to the Central Minister. Since the state where it came from was not an ally of the central Govt, the request was brought to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister Office, after due consideration and consultation, replied: Only one shore of the sea is in this country but the other shore is in another country and so this has to be discussed in the UN. And it would be addressed as soon as possible in the UN Assembly. This reply travelled all the way from the PMO to State to Collector to VAO and finally to the boy. When the boy received the reply, they were observing the first anniversary of the death of his grandma.
Today, Christmas transcends religions and culture. But today’s modern religion is politics assisted by business coteries and corporate bodies coordinated by bureaucrats. As students of business administration and as future entrepreneurs, you have the choice to follow the Zen monks or the bureaucrats. You choose to follow the responsibility of Jesus who came down from heaven; became a human being just like us, lived with us, and died for us; but stays on with us. Let us be his representatives and voice of this responsible God-Man. Let us realize that our wellness springs forth from the wellness of others. Our age is not how many years have passed on, but how many years are still left to serve others, especially the needy. As students of Business Administration, we are familiar with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), but Christmas reminds us of our Personal Social Responsibility (PSR). In addition to CSR let us think of and live out PSR as well.
Christmas is about love – The question is whether this love is selfless like the Zen monks or selfish like the bureaucrats and politicians in passing the puck to safeguard themselves. Let us be there for the needy. Every New Year is an opportunity and a reminder, that we are given one more chance to do our best for others. All the best. Merry Christmas and happy New Year 2023.
Francis P Xavier SJ
19Dec2022