This is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a stone soul who didn´t love anyone and whose company people
avoided when, beating his walking stick against the cobbled streets of the Victorian London, made his way, every day, to his cold accounting office to worship his only god: The Money. This is the story of a miser who amassed a large amount of money which he annotated, carefully in his account book where there were another “invisible” debts accumulated: all the suffering and pain which, since many years ago, he was inflicting on the people, ruining their lives and throwing them out to poverty with his executioner glove.
Not even Christmas time was able to move this mean man who disdained those, like his generous nephew Fred or his kind and patient clerk Bob Cratchit, who praise the festive season and preach the feelings of Love, Peace and Mercy. The best Christmas Carol for Scrooge was the tinkling of the coins in his pocket. And it would be that way
forever…
However, Destiny had another plans for him and, when Christmas Eve came and the door knocker of his house showed the face of his dead partner, Jacob Marley, Scrooge was seized by panic: Christmas had come to claim its debt, a Christmas which showed its most spectral face.
“Three Spirits will visit you” said Marley´s Ghost, warning him that, unless he regretted his acts and turned into a good person, he would wander forever, like him, with no peace and no rest, wearing the chains he forged in life. Three Spirits of the Past, Present and Future in whose company he would have to travel a path of sorrow, joy, lights and shadows and, at the end of it, Scrooge would find himself, face to face, with his Destiny…
The English writer Charles Dickens (1812-1870), creator of unforgettable characters like David Copperfield and Oliver Twist, has achieved with Ebenezer Scrooge that his memory is bound, forever, to Christmas because he gives us a story which keeps captivating people of all generations. His “A Christmas Carol” is a story of loneliness and bitterness, about a past that can´t return and a distressing future in whose horizon we can see a little light of hope and the hidden promise of salvation. A story of second chances where the Magic and the Supernatural are connected, perfectly, with the daily routine becoming an endearing book.
If we think about it, every character described in “A Christmas Carol” is a little reflection in the mirror of our Soul: the infectious Joy of Scrooge´s nephew, the Naturalness and Kindness of Bob Cratchit and his family where Tiny Tim amazes us with his Strength of spirit and Wisdom… there is something about all of them inside us and that includes, too, Scrooge because, many times we have felt ourselves like mean and selfish persons and, at the same time, we are eager to reach the salvation, another
chance to start from scratch to rectify our mistakes. Inside us, we wish a second chance on Scrooge because, it´s really a chance for mankind.
To open the book and start reading its first words “Marley was dead: to begin with (…)” means letting a magic Light surround you and, like a balsam, bring us closer the world, inspiring us to be a better persons and reminding us that Love, Peace and Mercy which we celebrate in December must exist the rest of the year. If we do that thing, we´ll avoid, perhaps, the Three Spirits´ visit…
Merry Christmas, Everyone!