The holiday season is supposed to mean so many good things and yet for a lot of us, it means the direct opposite.

Another family will bury another son this holiday season and that hurt, which we pray will lessen over time, will nonetheless leave a stain on their hearts, which can never be washed away.

Even for the most secure of us, during the year, layers of concerns, challenges and difficulties make up the day.

It seems like bills pile up faster than we can make the money to pay for them and for every challenge overcome, there is yet another one that pops up in its place. So a lot of us wind up stumbling through life in a haze, not even realising it’s the holiday season. A never-ending maze and race to either make ends meet or just keep up with the pace of life.

And then comes the holiday season.

We are told it is a time of giving, reflection and connection, and yet half the time, it is little more than a time of increased spending, an even busier calendar in the million little things that are left to be accomplished between the decorating, the shopping and parties, if we can afford it. Then we start the new year, drained panicked and dishevelled.

So let’s try something different this year. Let’s try to make this year about the “them” over and above the “us”.

We know who they are. They are the growing number of people standing in food lines, shopping at thrift stores, using financial assistance, buying groceries $20 at a time with outstanding doctor’s bills and prescriptions that they can’t afford.

The “them” sleeping on couches, if they are lucky, but otherwise sleeping rough. The “them” who work and have little to show for it. The “them” who are before the courts because they owe money and the fault is no more than the economy tanked and they were on the lowest rungs of that ladder.

The “them” who can’t get to parent-teacher meetings because they can’t leave work. The “them” who use the emergency room as their primary caregiver. The “them” who are our cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents, parents, siblings and dear friends.

It is in their hour of need that we who have can make sense of the world that has so many resources and yet lacks for so much.

Let us not forget them.

And to the heartbroken and in-need families of Bermuda, hold hard to the dream of Bermuda. I am so sorry that you are going through these tough times but there are people who care about you and we are coming for you.

During this holiday season, the “us” can serve food. Instead of the umpteenth Christmas party, let’s spend time with someone who can’t leave their home or the hospital.

Instead of yet another present for a distant associate, let’s get those families something to smile about.

There’s about 300 registered charities who could use volunteers and reaching out to them is as easy as Facebook, websites and text messages.

If we remember and try to serve those in need then maybe, just maybe, when we wake up on that special morning full of cheer and joy, we will have earned it in the eyes of them, them who are just as important, loving and worthwhile as those in our homes on that special morning.

I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy, joyful and prosperous New Year.