The Ghost of Christmas Future: Leaving a Gift in your Will
We all know the basic story of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: Scrooge is so caught up in saving (and hoarding) money that he doesn’t care about Christmas, is cruel to his employee Bob Cratchit and in retribution is visited by three ghosts. After the final vision of Christmas future where no-one attends his funeral, Scrooge realises he has to change his ways to make a positive impact now, and to leave a meaningful legacy.
So, what does this have to do with York St John and leaving us a gift in your Will?
The Ghost of Christmas Past
Looking back at your time at York St John, how did you celebrate Christmas with us? We know singing carols to raise funds for sports clubs and societies has always been popular. Likewise, flat Christmas dinners and attending our annual Carol Service have long been staples of a York St John Christmas.
But we know students often create their own quirky traditions that they’ll remember fondly – or not want to remember at all!
For many of our alumni, studying with us was a seminal time in your life. It might have been:
- the first time you lived away from home
- the first time you stayed up really late to finish an essay
- the first time you had to manage your own money
For lots of students, we know money was tight towards the end of term. Managing your own money for the first time, paired with a host of Christmas temptations, might have meant your Christmas Past involved quite a bit of negotiating over whose round it was! It probably also involved frantic attempts at handmade gifts and dreaming of a homecooked meal back home. But whether you paid pennies or pounds for a hot drink to stave off the chill, you still made the most of your time with us.
We know that for many of our alumni, when you said goodbye to your friends at Christmas, you were also saying goodbye to York St John until January.
But goodbye doesn’t always mean forever.
The Ghost of Christmas Present
This year, like many, you’ll settle down to watch a few festive films (The Muppet Christmas Carol is always a crowd pleaser), wrap some Christmas presents and spend time with friends and family. You might organise to see old friends from when you studied with us. You might also exchange Christmas cards with fond recollections of the year you burnt the sprouts for the flat dinner.
For any young people in your lives, they’ll be wondering what gifts are going to be left for them. Which toy, which game, which new piece of technology will they be opening on Christmas day? But, we know that not all Christmases are made equal. For every home as opulent as Scrooge’s could be, there are also families celebrating Christmas like the Cratchits, and the many families in-between.
But something A Christmas Carol does emphasise, even in the Muppet version, is that Christmas is a time of good-will and giving, no matter your financial situation. Like Scrooge arriving with a massive turkey in some adaptations, it’s not how much it cost that is important, but how much it mean to the Cratchits and the impact Scrooge’s actions have on them.
This year, after last year’s Christmas, we hope you spend it celebrating with family and friends.
The Ghost of Christmas Future
In A Christmas Carol, Scrooge sees the Cratchit family visiting Tiny Tim’s grave, and his own funeral taking place, devoid of any true mourners. Truly, not a very festive scene even with Kermit playing Bob Cratchit in the Muppet version!
But afterwards, Scrooge promises to change his ways and arrives to give the Cratchit family food, and a wage increase. The implication is that because of his generosity, Tiny Tim lives. Scrooge also reconnects with his family, and changes his life and legacy for the better.
But, how much did this improved legacy cost? Scrooge is a wealthy man and by the end of the story, a generous one. However, the financial impact of his generosity on his own spending power is limited. Certainly the Christmas day turkey and the wage increase wouldn’t have ruined his own standard of living, but they massively improve the Cratchits’.
The implication is that it doesn’t take much, or cost a lot, to truly change a life.
Throughout the story, there are other examples of generosity from less wealthy people. Scrooge’s nephew donates to the fund Scrooge disparages and during the Christmas Present vision, Scrooge witnesses Victorian goodwill in many forms.
So, what does this have to do leaving a gift to York St John in your Will?
Christmas might not seem like the time to talk about writing a Will, but since it is the time of good-will and giving, why not leave us the best gift ever? We don’t expect you to leave us Scrooge-like wealth, but like Scrooge, even the smallest amount can go a long way to changing lives.
We’re not saying leaving us a gift will save Tiny Tim like in A Christmas Carol, but it might mean Tim can afford to go to university and not worry about his finances so much. It might not buy the Cratchit family a Christmas turkey, but your gift could buy more resources for the library so Tim doesn’t have to buy all of his books. Your gift won’t be a flash in the pan like this year’s top gadget, but it might mean Tim has enough money left over from his scholarship to contribute to his flat Christmas meal, just like you did.
“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.”
We know our alumni community isn’t full of Scrooges. But like many people in the UK, we know you might not realise you can leave money to a charity in your Will, and the impact that even a small amount can make. We recently posted five reasons to donate money to our scholarship fund and a blog about why our students apply for scholarships. A gift in your Will doesn’t have to go to our scholarship fund. But reading about the impact of our scholarships highlights how your generosity changes our students’ lives.
When you leave us a gift in your Will, you can specify exactly what it funds. From library resources, new buildings or a free copy of The Muppet Christmas Carol to each new student, we’ll always honour your wishes. But how do we know what the students in 20 or 30 years time might need? We couldn’t have predicted 30 years ago that every student would need their own computer. Never mind the possibility of things like iPads for art students. So if you don’t want to specify how your gift is spent, we’ll ensure that it’s spent supporting students in the best way possible.
Like in A Christmas Carol, you won’t see how your gift affects future students at York St John, but you know that it will have an important impact, and isn’t that what Christmas is all about?
