The Grinch That Stole Christmas

Everybody who lived in Who-ville liked Christmas a lot, but the Grinch who lived just north of Who-ville did not. The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season! Now don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason. It could be that his head wasn't screwed on quite right. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. But I think the most likely reason of all, may have been that his heart was two sizes too small. . .

. . .The more the Grinch thought, "I must stop this whole thing! Why for fifty-three years I've put up with it now! I must stop Christmas from coming. But HOW?

There is probably no one alive who has not heard of How the Grinch Stole Christmas published in 1957 by Dr. Seuss. To most readers, the Grinch of Dr. Seuss is a scheming green meanie who hates Christmas so much that he tries to make it vanish completely and in so doing, that it would never return again.

In the story, the Who's are a cheerful bunch of folks filled with the holiday spirit of Christmas. The Outsider, of course, is the Grinch, who is so sickened by the joy of the holiday, that he decides to hijack it. The Grinch proves to be a natural born destroyer at destroying everything associated with Christmas, even stooping so low as lying to poor little Cindy Loo Who about his intentions as he diabolically stuffs the family Christmas tree up the chimney.

But, something terrible has happened to Dr. Seuss' beloved Grinch. The Grinch of fiction was to Dr. Seuss closer to wonderful than he was to awful, but the Grinches who are stealing Christmas in real life today are closer to awful than they are to wonderful. What happened to Dr. Seuss' Grinch? One might say that his identity has been stolen by a lot of people who want to be Grinches.

We are surrounded by Grinches today. They are making every successful attempt possible to destroy the Christmas that they hate. They are stealing my Christmas. They are stealing your Christmas. No carols. No decorated trees. No "Merry Christmas" wishes can be extended. No public Nativity scenes. There are no more Salvation Army Ladies in their quaint bonnetts as they ring in the season with joyful bells. The bells have been silenced by the Grinches who hate Christmas!

Today, I decided to go to Wall-Mart. I was determined to say "Merry Christmas" even though it is yet Thanksgiving. I expected a crowded parking lot and store. It was not so. I was greeted by a sterile entrance. Inside, there was only one senior Wall-Mart lady tending baskets, but she pulled out no baskets for shoppers. She did not speak. She greeted no one! There was one small artificial tree with no more than one string of colored lights on bare branches. Otherwise the store was totally devoid of ANY and ALL Christmas decorations. I smiled and said to her, "Merry Christmas!" She stared back at me with vacant eyes and a silent mouth. I had met a Grinch.

If you look in a mirror, do you see a green meany? Do you see a Grinch that stole my Christmas? If not, be assured that they are everywhere. They are all around us stealing our holiday. Stealing our Christmas. The mean ones, who hate Christmas so much, that they decided to steal it, and do away with it for good!

In the story by Dr. Seuss, the efforts of the Grinch fail in the end and he becomes a hero, BUT we are not dealing with a make-believe Grinch from Dr. Seuss' delightful Christmas story. We are dealing with real Grinches, in real life, with real agendas who are determined to destroy not only the holiday of Christmas, but the Christ of Christmas.

This is my viewpoint. What is yours?