Xmas came and went in a blink of an eye but not without the fanfare and celebration. This year I noticed alot of different things unique to the coming of a new decade. The first thing was, a radio station, which happens to be the one I listen to the most, took the initiative to put up a xmas tree. It wasn't any simple xmas tree, but one where listeners could donate toys and other essential items to put up on the tree to be donated to a children's home somewhere in KL.
I didn't really follow up on the development of the tree but the last I read the deejays' blogs, they mentioned that there already were stuffed toys, food items and even 2 television sets and dvd players. Now what amazes me was that, the first toy was donated by a malay guy and so was a few other items that went up on that tree. The point I am trying to stress is that, coming of age, xmas is not only celebrated by christians alone but of all races and religions.
As a non-christian, I have came to accept xmas as being not only a symbol of religious significance (in this case a milestone in the history of Christianity) but as a symbol of unity amongst all races and religious believes, I dare say this in the context of being a Malaysian and my ideas may not be correctly intepreted outside my own country.
The weekends leading to xmas day had seen mainly shopping malls decking out their centre spaces with ornate and unique xmas decorations and setups. Everyone was seen trying to capture perfect shots of the xmas decorations with or without themselves in them, busy buying gifts of chocolates and whatever nots for their loved ones and friends and going about their so called xmas shopping. At the Pavilion mall in KL, half of these people were from the Middle East, and the rest of them consists of the 3 major races in Malaysia as well as other Malaysians.
Which brings me back to my point, xmas today, as compared to many years ago has become a Malaysian thing, not merely a christian thing cos everyone gaily celebrates this holiday and find ways to make it a special part of their lives.
As for me, we had a cozy little barbecue at my girlfriend's place on xmas night and I really had a good time and non of us are even christians.
In the spirit of 1Malaysia, I'm happy at how this holiday went by leaving everybody happier and closer to each other and the level of acceptance (not merely tolerance, as previously used in the media to describe a peaceful inter-racial society) that we have came to have of each other. I am so proud to be Malaysian!
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