Santa, I am terrified
It is as if loving and respecting others and sharing their joys and sorrows are not an integral part of our religious values
Phobia is a mental illness by which a person feels extremely terrified about certain things. There are many types of phobia, like of the fear of height, darkness or socializing. Some people carry hand sanitizers along wherever they go as they are phobic to germs and infections. During exams, some students suffer from sleeplessness, irritation and headaches due to exam phobia. It is also well-known that most women are phobic of cockroaches. However, the weirdest type of phobia that is infecting all human beings is ‘wealth phobia.’ The symptoms include asceticism about getting wealthy and making more money.
While our Christian brothers celebrated Christmas, a renewed state of phobia spread in our society. It is a well-known phobia in our region where the culture of hate, lack of tolerance and hedonophobia (fear of pleasure and delight) prevails. Some people try to intimidate us from celebrating this occasion with the excuse of protecting our religious values. It is as if loving and respecting others and sharing their joys and sorrows are not an integral part of our religious values. Some have even forgotten that the Christmas tree is considered as a human heritage.
The Christmas season in our Arab societies has turned into a seasonal war against the tree; a war waged by hordes of people working on cogitating, theorizing, expiating, banning and incriminating with the aim of besieging the ‘tree’ and portraying it in popular minds as a symbol of evil, while in fact it represents a good occasion commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ (PBUH). On this occasion, churches hold prayers for our Christian brothers, while families and friends’ gather there and exchange gifts. Christmas marks the end of the year and the beginning of a new one. It is a season of good and virtue, but has been turned into something evil, because some people have chronic phobias.
— Translated by Kuwait Times