March 24: Shadows of the Things, Dispelled, New Cartoon

"They are not torn down," cried Scrooge, folding one of his bed-curtains in his arms, "they are not torn down, rings and all.  They are here:  I am here:  the shadows of the things that would have been, may be dispelled.  I know they will!"

Scrooge has just been returned to his bed by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, and he is full of remorse and hope.  He's vowing to change, to give up the mistakes and sins of his past and present life.  Having seen a glimpse of his bleak future, Scrooge promises, on his knees no less, to change his destructive ways.

We've all been at this point some time in our lives.  We all have habits, weaknesses that have brought us to our knees (metaphorically or actually).  For Scrooge, it's his greed and stinginess and dislike of humankind.  Those are big character flaws to overcome.  For others, it's alcohol or drugs.  Food.  Sex or pornography.  I've been there with Scrooge, on my knees, vowing, "I'll never do that again.  Never."  It's an easy promise to make in the moment, when you feel like shit about yourself.  But when that meat lover's pizza is sitting in front of you, or that blowjob.com website is glowing on the computer screen, it's much more difficult to follow through.

I often wonder if Scrooge had moments of weakness after the end of A Christmas Carol.  It couldn't have been easy to turn his back on 60 or 70 years of hatred and greed.  I imagine, once or twice, when some poor slob came to his office, begging for a few more days to repay his debt, Scrooge experienced twinges of his old self, thought, "Pay up, you worthless cocksucker" (or something along those lines, perhaps with the word "wanker" instead).

Being weak and flawed is part of being human.  Scrooge is human.  I'm human,  You're human.  We all have moments when our human side wins out, when we're stingy with our money, when we eat a pound of peanut butter M&Ms in one sitting, when we spend an hour surfing porn sites, when  we drink a fifth of Jack Daniels.

I have to believe that Scrooge made mistakes, just like everyone else.  It's what he did after the mistakes that counts.  It's about how he picked himself up, dusted himself off, and recommitted himself to be a better person.  Good intentions followed by good actions.  That's the key to dispelling the shadows of the things that could have been.

Saint Marty and Scrooge, becoming better people, one mistake at a time.

Confessions of Saint Marty