January 18: All Business, My Business, Being Occupied

Scrooge, taking care of business

"It's not my business," Scrooge returned.  "It's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's.  Mine occupies me constantly.  Good afternoon, gentlemen!"

This is Scrooge dismissing the two men who come to his office on Christmas Eve seeking a charitable donation for the poor.  Scrooge's little diatribe echoes back a little later in the stave when the ghost of  Jacob Marley laments over what the real business of his life should have been.

Obviously, Dickens doesn't subscribe to Scrooge's way of thinking.  The entire book is practically a call to social action .  I can almost see Dickens standing at the corner on a soapbox, yelling at well-dressed passers-by:  "Your business is to help your fellow man!"  (Yes, he would have used the word "man."  This is Victorian England we're talking about here.)  "Dig deep to help the poor and needy," he'd yell, "or the human race is doomed."  Later on in the book, in the stave with the Ghost of Christmas Present, Dickens actually uses the word "doom" to describe humanity's chances if it turns a blind eye towards the misery of others.

I understand Scrooge's response to the two gentlemen at the beginning of the book.  Most of the time, I am completely occupied and preoccupied by the business of my life.  My business.  My worries.  My needs.  My wants.  It's an easy mindset to fall into.  Dropping spare change into a Salvation Army bucket, writing out a check to church each weekend, putting a couple of dollars in an envelope for  a local homeless shelter, these things all take money away from me.  Money that could be used to pay bills or go to a movie or put gas in my vehicle.  You know, taking care of my business.

Of course, Scrooge learns his lesson by the end of A Christmas Carol.  He's completely reformed and spends the rest of his life, so it seems, squandering the fortune he's amassed in the bank.  He saves Tiny Tim, gives Bob a raise, parties with his nephew, donates to the poor.  He does these things without a thought about how he's going to pay for them.  He is obviously filthy, stinkin' rich.

I haven't reached that point of enlightenment in my life.  I still worry about money.  Finances are one of my greatest stresses.  I'm still focused on my business.  Perhaps I would have a different attitude if I were as wealthy as Ebenezer.  Perhaps I would go around, paying off people's mortgages or buying medical care for the Tiny Tims of the world.  Perhaps.  I don't know.

Give Saint Marty a couple million dollars and see what he does with it.