I'll Have A Blue Carbuncle Christmas Without You

Today's Christmas lesson, children, is morality.

Under the Masterpiece Theater banner, PBS aired a 1980s BBC production of new Sherlock Holmes dramatizations. These brilliant adaptations, starred Jeremy Brett in the title role, who for my money is the best Holmes ever portrayed on the big or little screen.

Every year at this time, we watch an episode called, "The Blue Carbuncle," which captures perfectly the trappings of an Edwardian Christmas in old London-towne. The story revolves around the theft of a unique and priceless gemstone, that Holmes describes as "a nucleus and focus of crime," every facet of which stands for a bloody deed, with "a sinister history" of betrayal, robbery, suicide, and murder.

He concludes by saying in disgust, "All brought about by this 40-grain weight of crystallized charcoal."

I was cuddling with my cat while watching the show, and I said to my wife, "I wouldn't give up this one small animal for all the jewels in the world."

Later, I thought about it, and rationalized that if I had all the jewels in the world, I could assure that every pet on earth had a happy life, secure sanctuaries for wild and endangered species, and probably still have enough left over to go a long way towards alleviating world hunger.

But if it meant breaking my commitment to one precious little soul, who has known nothing but gentleness, softness and love since the day she was born, I couldn't do it.

Is this foolish?

Then, while reading this morning, I ran across this passage:

"When it came down to it, well-intentioned ideologies were developed for those without access to money."

Is this where my so-called morality comes from, the knowledge that I have no resources and never will, so I can afford, so to speak, to be altruistic?

Does this negate Christ's teachings? Is the idea that "the meek shall inherit the earth" just a cover-up to help placate our lot in life?

Interesting questions to ponder, at least to me, at Christmastime.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x13m2i7_sherlock-holmes-7-the-blue-carbuncle_creation