PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Have you finished your Christmas shopping? Do you have a Christmas tree? It’s only ten days until Christmas! Cost-of-living pressures are likely to squeeze retailers’ bottom line this year. Christmas didn’t start as a commercial event or merely a sentimental occasion, but as a Christian celebration centred on love, hope, renewal, and goodwill to all. It offered encouragement and promoted a sense of moral guidance grounded in caring for others and attending to everyday human needs.
Sadly, this tradition has been significantly altered. In our multicultural society, most cultural and religious traditions have retained their depth and connection to their roots. Diwali, Ramadan, Passover, and Lunar New Year remain easily recognisable. Christmas, on the other hand, has become over-commercialised, sentimentalised, and rebranded. Even the everyday shift from Christmas to Xmas, once just a simple abbreviation, now feels like a symbol of cultural erasure. I personally lament this change.
Historian Tom Holland, in his book Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind, argues that many of the values we now consider fundamental in Western society - human dignity, compassion for the vulnerable, and the belief that every life matters - are deeply influenced by the Christian story, starting with the story of Christmas. This is not to claim that Western culture has a monopoly on humane values, but in the West, the values can be demonstrably linked to our Christian heritage.
In Rotary, we express those values in service, fellowship, and care for our local and global community. Whether it’s clean water, education, health, reconciliation, or community wellbeing, progress results from people showing up, working together, and persisting with the task at hand. In this sense, Rotary embodies the deeper ethical current that originally flowed through the Christmas tradition and Christian-influenced culture.
Fortunately, some meaningful Christmas traditions have endured. People still make an effort to gather with family, friends, and colleagues to share a meal, chat, laugh, and briefly set aside the worries and concerns that usually press in on us. Our own Hawthorn Christmas dinner was a highlight—warm, relaxed, entertaining, and genuinely enjoyable.
As members of the Rotary Club of Hawthorn, we see the positive values I have mentioned earlier expressed week by week through practical service, good fellowship, and genuine concern for others. As we approach the break, that feels like something worth holding onto.
