Its the end of the year and Christmas is fast approaching.
Its a time when friends and family who have been separated all or most of the year come together to celebrate and rest. There is meat and drink in abundance and gifts might be exchanged. Little kids look forward to seeing their Uncles, Aunts, Grandparents, and elder siblings while the old folks look forward to seeing their kids who are "doing well".

All this - the travels, the merriment and gifts - comes at a huge financial price. Its a big annual event and most people plan for it. They save for it, cut costs in the months leading up to Christmas and will even take extra jobs just to earn extra income that they can blow on Christmas expenditure.

The previous paragraph brings us to the inherent irony. Crime and illegal activities increase significantly during the Christmas Season. One of the very first things you will notice as the season draws closer is the exponential increase in Police Checkpoints. All they are interested in is extortion of money from car and public transport owners. Okada riders are not spared either. This of course is nothing unusual. It happens every time Christmas draws near. One day you wake up and find that the Police are everywhere. You also have Vehicle Inspection Officers everywhere as well, looking for a reason to impound your car (or bribe your way out as they prefer). Even if your car is in order, you will usually have to put up with unnecessary time wasting, an inconvenience no doubt.

These agents are out to make some money for Christmas. Woe to anyone that gets arrested by the police or ends up in their hands on any pretext whatsoever. Whereas this is supposed to be the season for goodwill to all men, here the true colors will come out (and I'm not even talking about the black).

Crime as mentioned earlier is also on the increase too. The number of robberies I hear about almost every day is amazing. These robbers are also hustling for Christmas. Thats a big irony I think. Now where I live, petty stealing has flourished. It was on Monday, 7th of November 2011, that I discovered that my car stereo was no longer a part of my car. Thieves had broken into the car and removed it. They didnt break the glass or anything, they simply opened the door (and yes, the car was locked) removed the stereo and locked the car back again (which part I found quite funny to be honest).

Over the next days and up until now, they have been breaking into cars and compounds. Items removed include gas cylinders, clothes hanging outside, a generator, and if you don't have a car stereo they will manage your car battery (if its new or relatively new, as a few people have painfully discovered).

The fact that incidents like this reoccur every Christmas season is food for thought. While it cannot be said that all these people are Christians, it is a certainty that Christians are a part of the group.

Nice one there & this shows that there is something very wrong with this celebration.

Ditto with any major festival in any part of the world and in every culture

Deep Sight:

Ditto with any major festival in any part of the world and in every culture

I'm not exactly sure about that but then again, I live in the South and I am more aware of what goes on there than in other parts. So maybe, maybe not.