Among the huge number of celebrations on earth, Christmas may be one of the largest and the most spectacular events. All Christians (should have) happily welcome the big day and have been treating it as a moment for holiday. It is a perfect time to temporarily escape from a year-long demanding routines.
Christmas in this year is slightly different than those I’ve seen years before. On this Christmas, I am far away form home, stuck here in Sydney for an ideal reason: study. Yet I cannot see snow during Christmas as what is seen in America, Canada and Europe, but at least this Christmas is celebrated in Australia where more Christians live their life. In Australia, Christmas has been becoming a part of tradition and even culture. Christmas has been a phenomenon that can be felt everywhere in daily life. The taste of Christmas has been obviously smelled since two or three months before the day.
The only different thing I observed is the news on TV. In Indonesia, I guess it has been so long that Christmas is celebrated by the enhancement of security level. Christmas has been very identical to the instruction of the Indonesian Police Chief to add forces to secure the Churches. I cannot find such news on TV in Australia. That is the different thing. In Indonesia, for once again, we will often see interviews with the Indonesian Police Chief about their readiness to guarantee the security and stability during Christmas. Meanwhile, here in Australia, Christmas is just nothing about security issues. Christmas is something glamorous and commercial. Everybody competes to sale their products during Christmas. Children are tempted with all the Christmas-tasted toys, teenagers are seduced by fashion sale and adults are also bombarded by all the Christmas marketing offers. In short, Christmas is filled with commercial opportunities.
Is that wrong? Oh, of course not! To use a religious or other social event as a marketing moment is not something new in our economic life. Some even believe that Christmas [and other religious occasion] has been commercialized since its first celebration. You can also see, what happened during Idul Fitri, Galungan and Kuningan in Indonesia. Every company has just found their perfect moment for sales and promotions. Do you think the value of Christmas has been decreased because of the commercialization? Undoubtedly, this simple writing has no rights [neither capability] to answer such a deep question. Ask your hearth, how far Jesus’ birth and struggles have led you to be a warrior. If you are just like me, who can only mumble, you better reopen the old book and use the past as a mirror so we can do something better to fix the story for today without repeating the same mistakes.
I wish you a Merry Christmas, may our [re]birth gives chances for us to be a better man today.
a madeandi's life 
