We are reminded by trustworthy people that life is a series of hassles and uplifts. Cardiologists tell us “not to sweat the small stuff and just about everything is small stuff.”
Even Thomas Jefferson believed nature heals when we are patient, undithered by ailments, and not over-treated by physicians. As the great architect of words, William Shakespeare, encouraged us, “What wound does not heal but by degree?”
Many of my uplifts come from remembering Christmases past. More precisely, the uplifts did not come from gifts received from Santa, family, and friends. No, the best uplifts were something we did. Often, I remember a neighbor saying, “Love is not a feeling. It is something we do. Kindness is love in motion.”
Yes, one of my greatest Christmas uplifts was Christmas caroling, going from house to house in our neighborhood, standing outside the front door and singing familiar Christmas Carols. In every case, our audience responded with surprise and delight.
The two houses in which I grew up in Norfolk, Va, serve as bookends of my memory: 1231 West 47th Street until age 10, and 1321 West 39th Street until Dottie and I were married more than 7 decades ago. Time has not dampened the uplift. It has sanctified it.
Christmas caroling was encouraged by Mrs. Kenneth Burke, our pastor’s wife and choir director at Burrows Memorial Baptist Church, Lamberts Point. I remember there were 6 or 8 of us, all in our early teens, heading to the Dolan’s, the residence of an elderly shut in. Mr. Dolan, bedridden, invited us into his house where we stood around his bed and sang Christmas carols. His tears showed his meaningful response to the hope embedded in the carols. Some teenage carolers grew up that day.
Christmas caroling continued through the years. Initially, it took encouragement if not threats to commit our growing family to keep up the tradition. Wherever we lived, the Browns went Christmas caroling.
Old timers will remember Old Copely Hill at UVA. Those of us privileged to have lived there called it, “The Real Copely Hill.” I researched the name only to learn that the land was purchased from the Massie family and “Copely” was of no historical significance to the University.
Old/Real Copely Hill consisted of rows of wooden barracks erected during WWII for families attending UVA. Dottie and I with 3 children, 2 to 7 years old, moved into a 3-bedroom, 1 bathroom barracks in 1961, for $40/month. Dean Ralph Cherry (School of Education) as a special inducement, had the previously condemned building opened for us, thinking a better building would soon be available.
It snowed heavily our first year on Copely Hill and the 1.5-2.0-inch space between the bottom of the kitchen door and the floor served well as a portal for snow to accumulate inside the house. I recall that Dr. Charles Gleason came to see our son whose high fever was alarming. Bobby had measles and pneumonia but responded well to the treatment Dr. Gleason provided in spite of the snow in the kitchen.
Christmas caroling at Old Copely Hill was especially uplifting. All the residents were in the same boat but from every part of the world. We were uniquely united. One fellow UVA student who joined vociferously in caroling was from Egypt. We were a community of hope singing about the greatest hope of humanity.
We sang Christmas carols to our neighbors before downsizing and we sang Christmas carols to our neighbors after downsizing. Dottie has a beautiful voice. In Blair Junior High School, I won a “superior” rating for singing, “Without a Song.” I remember the audience laughing when I announced the title of my song. It never occurred to me that I was about to do the impossible, to sing without a song.
Every person conscious of the birth of Jesus, the meaning of God taking on human flesh as Jesus whose birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, cannot help but sing with a joyful heart, particularly at Christmas.
“Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
You may not earn the wings of angels, but going Christmas caroling will give you lasting uplifts.
Robert S. Brown, MD, PHD a retired Psychiatrist, Col (Ret) U.S. Army Medical Corps devoted the last decade of his career to treating soldiers at Fort Lee redeploying from combat. He was a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Education at UVA. His renowned Mental Health course taught the value of exercise for a sound mind.
