Bittersweet

Date: 19 December 2009 15:16:45

Listening to the radio, Do they Know it’s Christmas? Came on. I remember very clearly the year that it came out. It was 1984 I was seven and we had as close to the “perfect” Christmas as portrayed in all the films, as we have ever had in my family. It was the only year that we did a big family Christmas (I come from a very small family) but we were nearly all there, as well as my parents and brother, there was my uncle (I only have one), my Grandparents, and a couple of great aunts, and my Uncle’s dog. Quite a big gathering for us. I have fond memories, it was the first year that I was big enough to join in the “grown up” games. I also remember this wonderful treasure hunt my great-aunt set up round the house for me and my brother. On Christmas day we had a real log fire. It was the first time that I had ever seen a real log fire, and on Christmas afternoon it snowed. A rare event for a child from the south coast. It didn’t settle, but I remember me and my brother excitingly twirling round in circles with arms stretched out laughing as the snow came down. I was too little to be aware of any family tensions, it’s a perfect magical Christmas to look back on.
While 1984 was a perfect Christmas for me. For many it wasn’t. 1984 was when the media allowed us in the west to see the plight of many who were starving. It was the first big response from the west, the beginning of celebrities using there status to make a difference in the larger world. For many Christmas 1984 for them was suffering and death.
The song “do they know it’s Christmas?” reminds me that while life is perfect for one, it can be hell for another. Sometimes we contribute to our perfect world, or to the hell, but often it is the decision of others. A twist of fate as to which world we are born in to.