A Christmas…Klutz

It’s Christmas time again. Traditionally this is a time of giving; giving gifts, giving time and sometimes giving your sanity as you join the mad dash of last minute shoppers cramming into the local malls to fight over that one last trendy toy of the season. Christmas is also a time of love. The love shared by families that brave the traffic filled icy roads and airports to spend one very special day together, the love that a Father has for His Son, the love that the Son has for us all & ideally the love that we share with one another. Christmas is also a time of many wonderful stories of inspiration and joy. Christmas means many things to many people. Each of us has a cherished memory or something special that we associate with Christmas. As for me, every Christmas I am reminded of a special lad that I once had the pleasure of meeting named Chris. This is Chris’ story and it is most certainly true…partially.More... I’ll never forget the day that I met Chris. He was an average kid with a not-so-average story. Chris was what you would call a klutz. He wasn’t just a clumsy person; he was a ‘no doubt about it, first class, accident waiting to happen’ kinda person. Chris was the type of kid that bad luck seemed to follow. He would open an umbrella inside his house; on accident, of course and manage to knock everything off the tables and shelves. Then while trying to close the umbrella he would end up breaking his mother’s favorite lamp. Chris was the kind of kid who once reached out his hand to turn on the television and as soon as he touched it there was a static electric discharge and that television never worked again.


By the time Chris reached the tender age of seven years old he had; through no fault of his own, set the house on fire twice, got a hot wheels race car stuck in the garbage disposal on six separate occasions, broke his leg three times and hit five baseballs through his neighbor’s front window. Once when Chris was very frustrated he kicked a rock on the sidewalk. The rock flew directly into the windshield on his mom’s minivan. Fortunately, the one bright side of all this is that despite Chris’ apparent jinx nobody ever got hurt.


Chris had a pet goldfish that he loved very much. He loved his fish so much that he would feed them and feed them and then feed them some more, because they loved their food. This meant that Chris’ mom had to replace the overfed goldfish quite often. One time Chris was walking through town and spotted one of teachers driving by. He jumped up and down and waved enthusiastically at his teacher. When the teacher turned to wave back at Chris she accidentally rear-ended the car in front of her. Even though Chris’ heart was in the right place many people laughed at him and called him a human accident machine. Despite this he tried hard not to let his ‘curse’ dampen his spirits.


One day Chris’ mom gave him the news that he was going to be a big brother. This was a day to remember in Chris’ household; this was also the same day that Chris decided to help out with the laundry. It took the plumber several hours to get all the water out of the basement from the subsequent flooding.


Chris loved his baby brother and through the years they grew very close. Chris was always advising his little brother to be careful not to ‘do this’ or to watch out when you’re ‘doing that’. Chris’ younger brother was grateful to have such a caring and smart brother.

The years passed quickly and one day as Chris’ younger brother was graduating from college he hugged Chris and said to him: “I’m the luckiest man in the world for having a brother like you to watch over me. You have always been there for me. Thanks to you I have avoided making so many mistakes in my life. You’ve been the perfect big brother Chris.” As they hugged Chris’ life flashed before his eyes: he remembered making mistake after mistake, feeling inadequate and even asking God ‘what’s wrong with me?’

Suddenly at that moment, a feeling of peace washed over Chris’ as he came to an important realization about life: Nobody’s perfect, we are all only human. But we all have value in the divine plan. We should never count anybody out or put a limitation on what God can do. God can take an apparent mess and create a beautiful masterpiece.

This holiday season let us put aside our differences and celebrate humankind’s wonderful diversity. Let’s try to appreciate each others value and respect the uniqueness in which we were all created. Above all else let us remember that whether we are man or woman, white or black, rich or poor, democrat or republican we are all one nation under God… Indivisible! Happy Holidays.