Is it time to stop the lights this Christmas?

This week’s INM/Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column.

Michael Commane

The killings and bombings in Ukraine are unspeakable crimes and it is becoming more and more difficult to look on as a bystander and see what is happening. Just some few days ago a film crew visited a Ukrainian field hospital. They spoke with a surgeon who told them that every metre of soil retaken by the Ukrainian army was costing an untold number of lives and unspeakable injuries to others.

And then the lives that are being lost every day, the infrastructure that is being ripped asunder, no water, no gas or electricity. It is unbearable and unimaginable. 

We in Ireland are doing our fair share and have certainly stepped up to the plate receiving Ukrainians fleeing the mayhem. Cycling from Dublin’s Jervis Street, across the Liffey and over to Georges Street on Saturday evening I got a glimpse of the city’s Christmas decorations. I noticed the Millennium bridge is all lit up in multi colour lighting. And just as I crossed the bridge, and of course it is a pedestrian bridge on which bicycles should be wheeled, I did ask myself do we really need all these lights this Christmas. 

I can hear people call me Scrooge. And that’s okay too but I’m having serious thoughts about all our Christmas lights this year. 

When Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU imposed its sanctions on Russia and subsequently Russia turned off its gas to Europe we were all wondering how might we get through this winter. 

Every household in the country has been given €200 to help defray the electricity costs, with another €400 landing in our accounts in the new year. Christmas arrives and it seems we have forgotten all about the seriousness of our gas and electricity supplies. But there is another aspect to it too. 

Is there something unwholesome about us lighting up our bridges, our buildings, every empty space with Christmas lights while an evil darkness descends across Ukraine? 

I have to say I think it looks all wrong. Have you seen the satellite images of a blacked-out Ukraine? Since the beginning of the World Cup there has been much talk about how appropriate it is to host the games in Qatar. 

Brendan O’Connor in his column in the Sunday Independent praised Roy Keane for saying the World Cup should not have been held in Qatar but in the next breath O’Connor points out ever so nicely that Keane is working as a pundit on the games for ITV. 

Should the captains have worn the LGBT arm bands? What’s the value or purpose in half-hearted protests? 

Certainly the captain of the Iranian team was a brave man to condemn the behaviour of his government, as was the team in not singing the national anthem. In cutting back on our Christmas lights we would be reminded that there is something not right in Ukraine. 

We might think again of the unimaginable suffering the people are having to endure. It also means we are using less electricity, most of which is gas generated. 

They keep telling us that it is in short supply and we are frivolously burning it away as if there were no tomorrow. I don’t get it. What about churches having no lights on Christmas trees this year?