The  kindness and spirit of humanity displayed by many Jamaicans over this holiday season is indeed impressive.

The efforts of those individuals stand out in a society that, unfortunately, still has too many who make merry at this time of year without a thought for the less fortunate.

We are not here advocating that Jamaicans deny themselves the joy of this season. What we hope is that, in doing so, we take the time to extend a kind hand to others. Because if that gesture of human compassion helps to change the life of just one person for the better, it would have been worth the effort.

Against that background we commend the police in St Elizabeth for staging their second Shop with a Cop programme, which saw almost 60 students and parents benefiting from Christmas Eve shopping courtesy of the constabulary.

Superintendent Coleridge Minto, who heads the St Elizabeth Police Division, told us that Acting Assistant Commissioner Chris Phillips deserves praise for conceptualising the programme which was undertaken in several divisions.

There are, of course, other organisations and individuals who do not wait until this time of year to help. Take, for instance, businessman Mr Gull Mansukhani, who this year spent $14 million to give cooling fans to schools in an expansion of an effort he started in 2023 after learning of the boiling conditions in classrooms across the country. That, as our story in today’s edition points out, is not his first philanthropic venture.

Some time ago Monsignor Gregory Ramkissoon, a man with a distinguished record of helping the poor and dispossessed in Jamaica and other countries, reminded us that “Christmastime is about forgetting self and finding time for others”. The season, he insisted, “should not be only about opening our presents, but opening our hearts as well”.

He is correct, and we should live by his example of caring, sharing, and loving each other — not only at this one time of the year, but every day.

Specifically, too, at this time, as we reflect on the goodness of God, we should remember that what we are really celebrating is the birth of Jesus Christ and the symbols of peace, hope, and goodwill to all mankind that His birth represents.

Now is also an appropriate time to give thanks for the mercies — small and large — which we have been blessed to receive this year, both as individuals and as a nation. We give thanks for health, strength and family. Many of us are fortunate to be able to spend Christmas with relatives and loved ones who are visiting from distant lands. That, too, is a wonderful blessing.

But even as we reflect on and celebrate the significance of Christ’s birth, we recognise that our country has challenges that we need to work together to overcome. The most pervasive of those challenges is crime, which, while on a downward trajectory this year, is still too high.

We sense a growing level of weariness and annoyance with this problem among law-abiding Jamaicans and hope that it will transition into a positive, united, anti-crime campaign going forward.

That said, we wish all Jamaicans everywhere, our readers, advertisers, employees, and friends a wonderful Christmas filled with the goodness of Christ and the hope of better things to come.