Feed the World

 (Reprinted from 2013)

Today marks the beginning of the Christmas season, since it was today that I heard Do They Know It's Christmas in a store for the first time this season.

One of the reasons Do They Know It's Christmas is, to me at least,  the most "Christian" of Christmas songs is that it's message is very simple: GIVE MONEY TO POOR PEOPLE. Period.

It's not a collection of vagueness about how great Jesus was, it's not some "gee, if we pray God will save them" nonsense - if you have a lot of money, you should give some it to those who need it more than you do.  Your prayers are not going to feed some kid in a  desert with a vulture circling, but money can. Patting ourselves on the back re: how "Christian" we are is fun and makes us feel better, but unless you're actively giving money to poor people, you're not really helping.

And that's yet another reason why I love the song - it doesn't offer salvation, it doesn't promise you'll feel better - it says what we all wanna say: "hey, thank fucking god it's them instead of me."  And in the meantime, send some $crillah to someone who really, really needs it.