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Opinion Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu
The 2014 festive season has begun, and we shall be celebrating Christmas after a few days, an occasion of joyful family gatherings and feasting.Christmas means the birthday of Jesus Christ, God’s Son whose mission on earth was to preach and propagate love, peace, the truth and other human qualities of high moral rectitude.

He actually created happiness by healing the sick and making the crippled whole. His sermons and deeds were aimed at making people happier and healthier than they were before hearing or meeting him.

That should be our aim as we eat, drink and make merry. Our words and actions should radiate happiness and goodwill all round.

There should be no room for such anti-social deeds as theft, rape, violence, suicide and murder. None of these bring happiness to the world.

They cause a great deal of misery to every sane person.

It is very common to see, or hear about violence being inflicted by husbands on their wives or vice versa, or by parents on their children, or by guardians on their wards during Christmas period.

Much has been said about domestic violence and the Zimbabwean Parliament has had to pass a law making it an offence for spouses to be violent against each other or for parents to be violent against their children or guardians against their wards.

Violence is a physical outpouring of anger, hatred, jealous, malice, frustration or sheer madness. A Christian is justified to be violent either in self-defence or as a result of unwarranted provocation. A biblical example of such provocation was when Jesus found vendors and other commercial entrepreneurs selling their wares and/or services in the temple. He thrashed them.

In a domestic environment, there should be love and mutual respect among all the family or household members. Family members are those related to one another by blood. Households comprise people living under the same roof but without any blood relationship between or among them.

A church congregation is a Christian family on a larger scale than a usual parents-offsprings family. The difference between the conventional family and the church family is that the latter is based on spiritual and the former on blood relationship.

However, in both cases there is no room for violence. Criticism, yes, as that is an opportunity for improvement in various aspects of human life, that is to say in one’s physical appearance including the practice of acceptable standard of hygiene, decent moral behaviour based on Christian ethics and beliefs, the use of non-offensive oral and body language, the consumption of non-repulsive foods and beverages, and the performance of one’s duty to earn one’s own upkeep and that of one’s dependants.

The golden rule of every practising Christian is “to do unto others as you would like them to do unto you”. This saying is, in fact, of Hindu origin but was adopted and incorporated into Hebraic culture by ancient Jewish scribes.

That great instruction tells us, in effect, not to be violent against those with whom we share God’s air and space if only because we would not want them to be violent against us. It is not an empty precept, but it is a command pregnant with human love for humanity.

We have been told by some people, both male and female, that beating up one’s spouse more or less regularly is a sign of love, an expression of affection.

That view is held by sadists, that is to say, by those people whose minds are so warped that they derive pleasure in inflicting physical pain on others.

A normal human being uses violence only to punish, and only after warnings and other less brutal corrective measures have failed. It is a distorted mind that derives pleasure from causing misery to other people

Back to that golden command: “Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you.” If we are to explain its deep meaning in some of our languages, we could say that its inner message is a seed of ubuntu, bunhu, buthu, ubantu, ubandu, hunhu or wubato: humanness.

That is the core of the Christmas message. If an anti-social feeling were to creep somehow into your mind, ask yourself whether or not you should be happy if those you wish to hurt were to do exactly the same thing on or against you.

A Christian answer would be an emphatic “no” of course, an expression of ubuntu, bunhu, hunhu.

Christians, (and Christmas is a Christian occasion) are strongly advised to celebrate in moderation rather than in excess. There is no wisdom in spending during this festive season as if there is no tomorrow.

A human being’s stomach is like a sack with a hole, one of nine apertures of the body. It needs to be filled with food and beverages occasionally at least and regularly at most.

There is no wisdom in spending to the last cent during the Christmas period only to face a bleak New Year. The old English saying:

“Enough is as good as a feast” is very good advice to a wise person.

While celebrating, it is advisable to bear in mind that we are still alive by God’s grace, and that thanks are due to Him from us all. We are able to eat and drink, to sing and dance, to hug and kiss not because of our personal cunning or cleverness but because our Creator, God, is keeping his protective and loving hand over us.

I wish you all a Merry and bountiful Christmas.

    Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu is a retired Bulawayo-based journalist. He can be contacted on cell 0734328136 or through email [email protected]