Christmas: a European wish list
What do we want for Christmas and 2022? Authors from Poland, Slovenia and Italy have penned their own personal wish lists.
All together at the table
Once a year Poles could behave like a traditional family, political scientist Jan Zielonka wishes in Rzeczpospolita:
“In my family, like in most families, there was also anger, quarrelling, betrayal, resentment and jealousy. On Christmas Eve, however, everyone came together, sang Christmas carols and shared the opłatek, or Christmas wafers. At least for one evening we all left each other in peace and could sometimes even forgive one another. Imagine if we could bring PiS supporters and opponents, the vaccinated and the anti-vaxxers, true patriots and Europeans of Polish origin, post-communists and anti-communists, readers of Gazeta Wyborcza and Gazeta Polska, defenders of women and defenders of unborn life, homosexuals and heterosexuals, locals and foreigners all together at the same table for Christmas.”
Detox for the heart
Gašper Blažič wishes for more optimism and warmth at Christmas, and writes in Demokracija:
“There is a qualitative difference between spending the Christmas holidays spiritually or enjoying the December shopping frenzy that starts on Black Friday. Better to spend it with a smile that builds a bridge to other people. And if the message of the angels in the fields outside Bethlehem proclaims peace in people's hearts, which also means more confidence and less fear, then I can only hope that we start the new calendar year with less toxic discussion about vaccinations and Covid measures.”
A test of love
Assia Neumann Dayan, author for La Stampa, explains why we should get tested before the holidays:
“Why should tests be necessary now, since we live with the risk anyway? Maybe because we usually spend Christmas with people we care about and want to protect, rather than strangers we have to avoid? Because one thing that has always scared me about Covid is the guilt involved. It's an irrational way of thinking, but if I got sick and infected my family despite my being vaccinated, the FFP2 mask I never take off, my hands burned by disinfectant and all the precautions and hypochondria, I'd never get over it.”