by Andrew P. Napolitano
LewRockwell.com
God works in strange ways. Last weekend, two friends and I were deeply moved when we saw a theatrical production of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” This is the famous and popular tale of the transformation and redemption of Ebenezer Scrooge from a rasping, grasping old miser into a lovable, generous old man who, late in life, becomes determined to make amends for all his extreme selfishness and his public denunciations of charity.
After a tossing-and-turning Christmas Eve night, during which he has dreams showing him lonely in his youth, showing present suffering he could easily alleviate, and showing future rejoicing at his death, he awakes on Christmas morning a new man. He immediately parts with some of his wealth to the very people and institutions he formerly rejected, makes amends with relatives he had ignored, and his heart swells with joy — a joy he had never known.
It was a joy his riches had never brought him.