“Love of one’s neighbor, which is the supreme form of vital energy. Once it fills the heart of man it must overflow and spend itself. And then the two basic ideals of modern man — without them he is unthinkable — the idea of free personality and the idea of life as sacrifice. Mind you, all this is still extraordinarily new. There was no history in this sense among the ancients. They had blood and beastliness and cruelty and pockmarked Caligulas who do not suspect how untalented every enslaver is. They had the boastful dead eternity of bronze monuments and marble columns. It was not until after the coming of Christ that time and man could breathe freely. It was not until after Him that men began to live toward the future. Man does not die in a ditch like a dog — but at home in history, while the work toward the conquest of death is in full swing.”

From “Dr. Zhivago,” by Pasternak Boris

Dr. Zhivago is one of the best novels ever published. Pasternak Boris writes with glorious poetic prose and astonishing insight about the human mind. It contains all the ingredients of a great work of literature: romance, love, tragedy, philosophy, poetry, magnificent plot, message to the readers, attention to details. I selected this snippet to celebrate Christmas,

“It was not until after the coming of Christ that time and man could breathe freely. It was not until after Him that men began to live toward the future. Man does not die in a ditch like a dog — but at home in history, while the work toward the conquest of death is in full swing.”

We are still working on it, aren’t we? We have a long way to go.  Forbidden in the Soviet Union, the manuscript was smuggled out of the country and published in Italy in 1957. The selected paragraph reflects how people talked and broached thought-provoking subjects back then. Nowadays, this type of discussion has become very infrequent since television and smartphones subject us to their hypnotic influence.  Thank God for books!

 Merry Christmas to my Christian friends, Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish friends, and Happy Holidays to the rest of my friends, believers and non-believers. Let’s make this time of the year a celebration of our love for each other.

Louis Villalba