The John Lewis who epitomises spirit of Christmas

Iadmire two John Lewises. Not the department store. I’m uncomfortable with the idea of a company’s advert becoming a festive tradition, even if it makes you weepy; I reckon pushing back gently against the commercialisation of Christmas is a good idea, even if you’re a secular celebrator like me. It’s a bit like Coca-Cola co-opting Santa. Let’s not let them do that.

Yes, we should value John Lewis as an important, venerable British employer, because there’s too much gloom in the retail sector these days.

But the chain of 51 department stores isn’t the best example of a John Lewis.

It’s not even the second-best.

In the US, there’s a hero called John Lewis and he’s the best of them. Now a member of the House of Representatives, from Georgia, as a contemporary of Dr Martin Luther King he was one of the most important figures in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. He continues to stand up for his beliefs, including a recent spat with President Donald Trump. He’s amazing.

But the John Lewis in the news right now is my second favourite to hold the name. He’s an ordinary guy, also in the States. This John Lewis lives in Virginia, and, on Twitter, describes himself as a “computer science educator, father of four, social liberal and not a retail store”.

This man, username @johnlewis, is often confused with the company on social media, and was kept busy by the ad’s launch last week. Not-a-shop-but-justsome-guy John Lewis patiently replies to everyone who accidentally tweets comments, complaints and questions to him, helpfully pointing them at the actually-a-shop-and-not-some-guy John Lewis. I think Ordinary Dad John Lewis is pretty great. In our angry times, when social media sites are filled with people determined to be horrible to each other, he remains polite.

It can’t be easy having such a common name (Wikipedia lists more than 60 notable people called John Lewis, including a Welsh international footballer who died in 1954 and the Archbishop of Ontario) but this man is a beacon of calm in a confusing world.

Christmas is coming. Let’s all be like human John Lewis, and keep the heid, however stressful and commercial it gets.

It can’t be easy having a common name but this man is a beacon of calm in a confusing world