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Staged Revelation

My mind goes back about 30 years to my final days at university in Singapore. Tensions were high because everyone was doing their final cramming before the examinations. As always at such times, fellow students were scrabbling around because they had lost their notes and reference books. Some wacko lit firecrackers in the middle of the night, and a lot of female screaming was going on. It was almost impossible to concentrate or get proper sleep because the lights in our dorm were on all night to provide more cramming time.
The exams were in January, right after the Christmas and New Year festivities. Naturally a lot of students had bad hangovers, me included. One needed Herculean discipline to get through the papers, then do even more cramming for the next exam. My head never stopped throbbing, and my eyes felt red-raw because we were living a nocturnal existence. It was every man for himself!

This was the scenario against which I was asked to put on a Christmas show at the university. Imagine trying to find willing volunteers at such a paranoid time! But I convinced a few thespian students that participation would be their legacy to the place, their thankyou for all they had learned. Thankfully they listened to me.

During all the chaos I wrote a play, arranged all the rehearsals and everything else-including sending out invitations-and somehow we got it all onto the stage. For one night only we cast all thoughts of examinations to the winds, and submerged ourselves in the magic of Christmas.

The play succeeded beyond our wildest dreams ... what you call bringing the house down with all the laughter.

Now comes the moment that made this Christmas so memorable. It was three years later, and I was working in the city. Someone tapped me on the shoulder-it was my junior from the university hostel days. "Remember the play?"he asked. "It was on stage that I found the real message and peace of Christmas ...

I could hardly believe it. This guy's language at university had been so foul that even the most hardened of us did not seek his company. Now here he was in wholly different guise, a respectable magistrate in his community.

This was the greatest possible Christmas gift for me, and all because of my Christmas play. For me, Christmas is about nostalgia as well as things spiritual. When it comes around each year, it's like bringing out vintage wine from deep within my soul. It's why I also spend every Christmas Day in contemplation, and reading the truths from my Bible.