Hosed by history.
So tonight I watched the George C. Scott 1984 version of “A Christmas Carol” with some fine folks to get me in the proper mood to finish off this albatross of a Christmas mix in time for the holidays. It worked, mostly. But at some point as Ebenezer bounded down the street to see his nephew Fred, an odd thought popped into my head:
Ebenezer Scrooge has been demolished and utterly screwed over by history.
Think about it: if I say that someone is a “scrooge”, you immediately think of a person who is grouchy, stingy, self-centered, and downright mean. Grinchy, even (and hey, that Grinch got hosed, too!) Yep, Scrooge has come to be synonymous with the cynics and haters at Christmas time…which is a total sham, if you’re Ebenezer Scrooge’s press agent.
Check out the end of Dickens’ immortal story:
“Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world…and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.“
So yeah, you’re Ebenezer Scrooge, and you’re rehabbed, baby. Your life has turned a 180, and people dig you and dig your scene and nobody is more generous and happy than you…and yet your name is in the thesaurus for “stingy” and “miserly”. Is that a raw deal or what? Apparently his ability to keep Christmas wasn’t always said of him at all, or if it was, it’s been forgotten.
I probably shouldn’t post under the influence of cold meds and lack of sleep.
Popnarcotic 