A Fezziwig Revolution

It’s December! Time for parties, singing, cookies, ugly sweaters, lighting candles, dancing, and cheer. The fact is, ’tis the season for celebration and tradition, whether you are a willing participant or not.

For me, December 1st rarely passes without sitting down for my favorite tradition at the start of the holidays: The Muppet Christmas Carol. It’s an oft told story (though best told by Gonzo): an old miser gets visited by ghosts and convinced to be more generous. On one of his midnight rides, the miserly Scrooge returns to his past to a Christmas party thrown by his former employer, Fezziwig.

In Dickens’ original work, Scrooge tells his phantasm companion that Fezziwig “has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count them up: what then? The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.” Scrooge sees that he has become the antithesis of Fezziwig. He has grown solely focused on making money at the cost of the happiness of those around him and himself.

This weekend, Dan Rodricks published an article in the Baltimore Sun about his search for a Fezziwig in a modern business world that has become overridden by Scrooges. Full disclosure: the real world Fezziwig he finds happens to be my employer, but I’m not the only one working for a company that recognizes the importance of giving back. Scrooge realizes when he returns to the past that there is more to a successful business then what can be quantified and put in a bank. A traditional approach to business focuses on a single bottom line: profit. As long as you are getting more profits, you’re succeeding. Yet some people (myself included) think businesses should look beyond the dollar signs and define success with a triple bottom line: not only profit, but the social and environmental impact they have as well.

This idea expands beyond an individual business. In America, as with most of the world, we measure our success by GDP, how much profit we’re making, and not by how happy we make our citizens. Just as Fezziwig’s radiant cheer can’t be logged in an account book, some of the things we value most can’t be quantified by GDP. For instance, if I ride a bike home from work, volunteer for a couple of hours at the food bank, and then create dinner from my garden to enjoy with my friends and family, I would not be contributing much to GDP. But if I drove to work (gas money!), picked up McDonald’s on the way home (food money!), then tried to escape my sad life with a bottle of gin and some pay-per-view movies (more money!) I would be contributing a lot more to GDP, though I’d be doing no favors to my happiness, well being, or community.

Keep Fezziwig in mind, as you prepare to pump cash (and cheer) into the economy this holiday season. As every corny Christmas movie or story will tell you, it’s the intangible things that matter most, not the gifts or decorations. Focus this year on celebrating what makes you happy and who makes you happy in whatever way you see fit. Instead of pepper spraying the lady ahead of you in line for that flat screen TV, stay home for a snow ball fight with the kids, or give a sentimental gift instead. If you do venture out to get gifts this year, try to support businesses that support your community.

Last year, for the first time I bought all of my Christmas gifts locally, and I was amazed by how different it was. Banished are the days of busy malls, unhappy cashiers, long lines, and gifts made by the finest child labor available. Instead I chatted happily with my favorite shop keepers as we worked together to find the perfect gift. One used bookseller even stockpiled books about the circus, my dad’s favorite subject, finding rare books for me that elicited shouts of joy from my father on Christmas. Nearly all the labor that went into the gifts, from creation to buying to unwrapping, produced joy in my community and family.

Not all local businesses are good to employees and communities and not all big businesses are bad. Instead I’d like to advocate, this Christmas season, for taking a look at your retailers and asking yourself, am I supporting a Scrooge or a Fezziwig? Every Christmas I pray for the spectral resurrection of more dead business partners who will take some of our top CEOs on a wild, heart-changing Christmas Eve adventure, but until then I’m going to spend my money on and support the people who strive to create fortunes of happiness to share with everyone around them.