Christmas traditions I hate: "A Christmas Carol". Every year. EVERY YEAR. Starting in early December: at least twenty times, sometimes as many as thirty or forty, all different interpretations of the same boring old story. As a child, you can't escape it. It's playing here, there... at school, at home. EVERY YEAR. And when I hit about 7th grade, I realized suddenly that I passionately hated it, and would NEVER watch it again in any way, shape, or form. It was a dumb story anyway! A greedy old man has a sudden change of heart just because some dumb old ghosts visit him. Hmph. "Not worth my time!" I thought, "I know the story already, it's not like it's going to change in any one of these billions of versions they want me to watch."
I maintained that view throughout high school, and into college. In fact, to some degree, I still agree with it. There are far too many versions of the story out there, most of which aren't as true to the original as they could be. And I'll tell you, it was the original that eventually changed my mind about "A Christmas Carol".
At some point, long after I'd gotten out of public schools, long after I'd decided to hate the story, somebody suggested I read the original version. I was a bit flabbergasted. In all the years of having the story forced down my throat, nobody had ever read the original to me, nor suggested I try reading it. And you know, it's a completely different story when it's your own mind doing the interpretations instead of random director here or there.
I still hate the fact that there are hundreds of versions of the story out there. And I still cringe when I end up watching one I don't want to watch. But at least now I can go back to the original and know that it's not that bad a tale after all.
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