Of the many things we’ve been proud of as a peo­ple through the years, is our strong com­mu­nal ties and vi­brant cul­ture that once led us to de­clare our­selves as the hap­pi­est peo­ple on earth.

As fad­ed as they are in the cur­rent cli­mate, we can still re­mem­ber the days when on Christ­mas Eve and Christ­mas Day, parang bands would go from house to house in close-knit com­mu­ni­ties, pick­ing up more peo­ple as they went along and stop­ping at each home for ham, pastelles and a strong drink be­fore mov­ing on.

This was the way we were; when busi­ness­es and ven­dors in down­town Port-of-Spain prof­it­ed from a mad buzz of shop­pers whose on­ly wor­ries were get­ting places to park and fac­ing the traf­fic out of the city.

There is no ques­tion of how far we have drift­ed away from those times, as the high crime rates have sup­pressed our tra­di­tions and caused us to cut back on the things we felt com­fort­able do­ing be­fore.

To­day, as our na­tion grap­ples with eco­nom­ic chal­lenges, so­cial is­sues, and en­vi­ron­men­tal con­cerns, Christ­mas of­fers a small op­por­tu­ni­ty for up­lift­ing spir­its and fos­ter­ing re­silience among our peers, work col­leagues and fam­i­ly mem­bers.

The pur­pose of cel­e­brat­ing to­day, as we know, is based on the birth of Je­sus Christ, sig­ni­fy­ing God’s in­car­na­tion as a hu­man be­ing, and bring­ing hope and sal­va­tion to hu­man­i­ty.

The na­tiv­i­ty sto­ry em­pha­sis­es themes of love, hu­mil­i­ty, and di­vine in­ter­ven­tion in hu­man af­fairs, some­thing we so bad­ly need at this time.

The na­tiv­i­ty sto­ry al­so re­minds us that three wise men trav­elled from the east, fol­low­ing a star to find the child that was born un­der it, know­ing that His birth promised an op­por­tu­ni­ty of de­liv­er­ance and re­new­al to the en­tire world.

Amid the dark­ness around us, we must learn from their de­ter­mi­na­tion and be­lieve that there is re­demp­tion from our cur­rent ills to the peace­ful place that our beloved na­tion once was.

We must not lose hope, no mat­ter how long the jour­ney may be to­wards that star.

Be­yond its re­li­gious roots, Christ­mas is a sig­nif­i­cant cul­tur­al event cel­e­brat­ed by many around the world, en­com­pass­ing var­i­ous tra­di­tions that pro­mote good­will, joy, and fes­tive cheer.

Let us not for­get that there are many among us who can ben­e­fit from our good­will and char­i­ty be­fore the sea­son ends.

As we nav­i­gate through chal­leng­ing times, let us al­low the spir­it of Christ­mas to in­spire hope for a brighter fu­ture.

To­day should re­mind us that change be­gins at home; small acts of kind­ness can lead to sig­nif­i­cant trans­for­ma­tions with­in our com­mu­ni­ties.

Let us, there­fore, em­brace the essence of Christ­mas by lift­ing each oth­er above our chal­lenges through sol­i­dar­i­ty, com­pas­sion, men­tal well­ness ini­tia­tives, and cul­tur­al cel­e­bra­tion.

To­geth­er, we can cre­ate an at­mos­phere where joy pre­vails over ad­ver­si­ty— a true tes­ta­ment to our re­silience.

Have a safe and mer­ry Christ­mas T&T.