Kindred,
The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future visited Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens' novella, A Christmas Carol.
The first ghost to appear, the Ghost of Christmas Past, shows Scrooge, his old boarding school where he stayed alone until his sister Fan managed to convince his unloving father to let him come home.
Next, the spirit shows him the Christmas Eve Party with his kindly first boss, Mr. Fezziwig, who treated him like a son.
Then the spirit showed him the Christmas Eve when his beloved fiancee, Belle, ended their relationship because she realized he loved money more than her.
The second spirit to appear, the Ghost of Christmas Present, takes Scrooge around the city, showing him scenes of festivity and also deprivation, including his nephew's Christmas party and his poor clerks, Bob Cratchit's Christmas dinner, where Scrooge takes notice of Cratchit's ill son, Tiny Tim.
Scrooge ask the spirit if Tiny Tim will live. The spirit replied, "If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die".
Finally, the spirit reveals two emaciated children, a boy named Ignorance anda girl named Want, clinging to his robes.
The spirit warns, "Beware of them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom unless the writing be erased."
I could go on, but most of you already know this story.
My point is perhaps it would do all of us good to evaluate our past and be sensitive to present events, in order to understand what the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Be might show us.
