Scrooge Was Right
Elaine Viets
Poor Scrooge. For 168 years, he's been reviled. Why, his very name means "a miserly person" in the dictionary.
But times change, and so do attitudes. We need to take another look at old Ebenezer.
If you read Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" again, you can see Scrooge is a victim of press persecution.
Dickens was biased from the start, introducing Scrooge as a "squeezing, wrenching, grasping, clutching, covetous old sinner." After that, you're naturally going to think the worst.
But examine Scrooge's statements on their own, and you'll see 
the man was ahead of his time.
Look at the famous "Bah humbug" lines that get him in so much trouble.
Scrooge says, "What's Christmas-time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older and not an hour richer, a time for balancing your books and having every item in 'em a round dozen of months presented dead against you."
Right on, Scrooge. You must have been checking my checking account. In the midst of the season's runaway consumerism, Scrooge is warning us against the dangers of overspending.
"If I had my will, every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart."
A bit harsh there, Eb. But I know how you feel. I'm so sick of watching TV ads with crazed consumers waving shopping bags, I may stake them myself.
Scrooge needs understanding during this season of peace and love. You can guess what it's like at his office the whole month of December: It's impossible to get any work done. Everyone Scrooge calls is either on vacation or gone for the rest of the day – at one o'clock. The fake Christmas tree on the office file cabinet falls over every time he shuts a drawer.
Even worse, Scrooge's coworkers have been bringing in Christmas food. Like many successful executives, Scrooge is weight conscious. But to be polite, he's had "just a taste" of fruitcake, eggnog, gingerbread cookies, homemade wine, peppermint sticks and a punch made from lime sherbet, Jell-O and ginger ale. The guy must be living on antacids.
Dickens starts his story on Christmas Eve, and doesn't take any of this into account. Scrooge has to run a business, even if it is a holiday. He's trying to get some work done when his nephew Bob Cratchit barges into the office. He wants Scrooge to come to Christmas dinner. Scrooge refuses. Bob has six kids tearing around the place. A bachelor is not used to that kind of noise.
The nephew cannot take a hint. He keeps insisting. At last, Scrooge says flat out that he can't stand the nephew's wife, Mrs. Cratchit.
OK, that was a little abrupt. But it marks Scrooge as a man of rare courage. Many of us long to say how we really feel about our relatives: We can't stand them. If we do like them, we don't like their spouse. But do we say so? Heck no. We go to one dreary family dinner after another and keep our mouths shut.
Scrooge has also been criticized for refusing to subscribe to a charity. Let's look at that scene again. Two "portly gentlemen" show up at the office. From the heft of them, Scrooge probably figures this well-fed pair is from a charity that squanders donations on executive limos and staff parties.
"What shall I put you down for?" the one asks boldly.
"Nothing!" says Scrooge, just as bold. The charity looks like an operation that deducts your donation from your paycheck, and your promotion is based on how much you give.
Finally, poor Scrooge goes home and tries to get some rest. Instead, the spirits of Christmas drag him around all night, ordering him to shape up and enjoy himself.
Scrooge wakes up scared. He sends the usual turkey bonus to his employee, Cratchit, then goes to his nephew's place for dinner after he already told the family no. Naturally, they had to find him a place.
According to Dickens, Scrooge is a reformed man.
If you ask me, he sold out.
