As Christmas time approaches for the Christians in our society many people join in with the celebrations. Some people even re-brand the holiday to “Winterval” which in my opinion is a contradiction, because you either celebrate Christmas as a Christian or you don’t.  All this “me too” approach to humanism irritates me a little because as humanists we don’t need to hang on the coat tails of the religious.

However the idea behind Christmas of loving your fellow human beings isn’t lost on me by any stretch of the imagination.  In fact I was thinking about what kind of song humanists could sing instead of something overly religious.  Then it sprang into my head from the dim and distant past, a song I’d heard in the movie “Scrooged” entitled “Put a little love in your heart”.  I looked up the song on iTunes and sure enough there it was!  Not a biblical phrase in sight but a very humanist message of love and kindness for our fellow man.

I do not celebrate the Christian festival of Christmas, but I certainly do use the new year as a time of reflection and celebration.  So when midnight rolls around on 31st December 2008, I will be thinking of friends, family and the others who are not as fortunate as me.  I will reflect on my attitude to myself and others, and think how can I do better in 2009?  Maybe in my own small way I can help inspire and change the lives of others.

I’m not big on the spending, the eating and the getting drunk, but the idea of challenging myself to do better is something that I can relate to.