For me it isn’t Christmas until I watched the Christmas Carol. The 1984 version is my favorite because Anthony Walters makes an incredible Tiny Tim. When Scrooge promises at the end, “I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all year long. It will live in the past, the present and the future. I will not shut out the lessons that the spirits taught me,” I forgive Scrooge, especially when the narrator tells us that Scrooge became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old city knew.
Modern-Day Christmas Carol
On 25 November 2018, Alexander Gerst, a German astronaut with the European Space Agency recorded a modern-day Christmas Carol. His version takes the form of a 5 ½ minute YouTube (German with English subtitles), which he created while floating 250 miles above the earth’s surface. In this thought-provoking recording,
Planet earth from space. www.walled-in-berlin.com
Gerst tries to rouse from apathy the 7 billion of us who inhabit planet earth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?=UfpkRFPIJk&feature=youtu.be/
Gerst’s Version of the Christmas Carol
With this video, Gerst hopes to raise our awareness of the fragility of earth’s biosphere and its limited natural resources. He hopes that we will intensity our efforts to save our planet for future generations once we have a better understanding of how small and vulnerable earth really is. In the YouTube, Gerst apologizes to future generations on behalf of our generation for potentially leaving earth in poor condition for them. He reminds us to get to work before it is too late and stop polluting the earth with carbon dioxide, pushing the climate to its tipping point, clearing forests, consuming limited resources, waging pointless wars and polluting the oceans with garbage. He closes by saying, “I hope for your sake (future generations) that my generation can still get its act together in time so that you won’t remember us as the generation who selfishly destroyed your livelihood.”
Who is Alexander Gerst?
Alexander Gerst is a German geophysicist and an astronaut with the European Space Agency. He participated in the International Space Station Expeditions 40, 41, 56 and 57. Gerst returned to Earth on 20 December 2018 after spending 165 days in space with Expedition 57. On all of his missions combined he spent a total of 362 days in space.
Let’s Alter the Shadows of the Future
Please join Mr. Gerst and me in the wish that the three spirits of Christmas past, present and future will convince us earthlings to start now with the job of saving our planet for future generations. Maybe we, too, can alter the shadows of the future and become as good a steward of the earth as the good old planet knew. With these thoughts I wish you a Happy New Year and all the best for 2019!
For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic or current events, people, places or food.
Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
