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We are now entering what so many people call “the festive season”, that time at the end of the year where the Christmas and New Year holidays give many a chance to spend time relaxing with family and friends.This is good.
But there are those who go further. Some think the best way to celebrate is get blind drunk and drive recklessly; some feel they should spend what they do not have and hope for the best when their children want school fees in a few weeks and food during January.
In traditional culture this time of the year was the time when the first fresh vegetables were harvested and the first of the new season’s livestock were available for a bit of feast. It was impossible to overdo it because there was not that much, simply a chance to take a break after planting and enjoy the first fruits of the new season.
Christmas and New Year fit into the same time of year and possibly need that same attitude, regardless of religious or customary beliefs.
Every year sensible people urge their fellows to be prudent, to set aside the money for school fees and food before spending on gifts and feasts. And some take heed and have even paid the fees for next term and have worked out what odd luxuries they can afford over the next fortnight. Having a good meal and a few drinks are far more enjoyable when you know no one will suffer as a result.
Every year the Zimbabwe Traffic Safety Board and the Zimbabwe Republic Police make appeals for safe, lawful driving. The board is obliged to do this.
The police really want people to heed the warnings as they are the ones who have to scrape bodies off the road, or cut them out of wrecks and then knock on doors on Christmas Day to tell a family that someone has been killed and inviting them to come to the morgue for formal identification.
Even the safe and prudent driver needs to be extra careful, because of others who are not. It will be of little comfort to a family to hear that a father or mother was killed because they were hit by a selfish impatient drunk going through a red light when they could have just swallowed their pride and stopped.
We can all play a part in such safety measures, not only to remain alive ourselves, but also to avoid killing or maiming others, even when the others are in the wrong.
There will, as always, be those for whom Christmas is a bad time of the year. They are lonely; they are destitute; they are ill; they have nothing or no-one. Many organisations and churches have outreach programmes to help these, but we can all play a part either personally in our own community if we know of such people, or by helping those who are ready to help those in need.
It is not difficult to find someone who needs help or who gives help.
All that we are suggesting is that everyone should embrace this time of year for what it should mean, a chance to relax, be with our families and friends and celebrate a little. And we can all do this without converting ourselves in paupers, causing harm or killing others.
Online Reporter