Christmas message brings change

To the editor:

Perhaps 30 years past, I was reading Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." There was a drawing of the spirits with a balloon presenting the quote, "Be careful what you do when you are alone, for the specters are there," from the Holy Bible.

Curiosity influenced me and others to search the Scriptures for this quote. It is Proverbs 9:18, "Specters haunting the scene of past transgressions" from the Amplified Bible (Septuagint or Greek version).

And I believe this Scripture was a high influence to Dickens' composition, as Scrooge renounced his coldhearted materialism for the love and compassion after being visited by the specters.

Elanore H. Ayers' book, "The Importance of Charles Dickens," quotes another book, "Dickens and Youth," saying, "'A Chrismas Carol' accomplishes two great missions: One was to show that Christmas can (and does, as I see it) bring brotherhood and love into the life of man. The second reason was to expose the English merchant system's treatment of the underprivileged."

Is it not a splendid presentation of the change the message of Christmas can bring about?

God bless us everyone this Christmastime and as the new year approaches.

ALICE DAVIS, Mundelein, Ill.