
And this shall be a Sign to you:
in a manger you will find an infant
wrapped in swaddling clothes.
- Luke 2: 12
1.
Tears filled my eyes, heart grew heavy as I was listening to stories of Children like Fares, who was found abandoned in a box near a checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem; or Ehab, the son of a deaf 16-year-old who was abused by several cousins and neighbours; or Baha, an infectiously cheerful little boy with Down's syndrome.
Most of these children were conceived out of wedlock. Every one of these children being innocent suffer the most horrible circumstances given the deeply rooted cultural and tribal bias. Deeply sad is the fact that often time many of these non-sense violence of justice for these innocent new born children goes under the pretext of religious (read cultural) petty mentality and sick emotion.
2.
O humanity! ... revere the sacredness of the womb that bore you.
- The Quran, An-Nisa (The Woman) 4:1
When you think of the story of Mary conceiving Christ, her giving birth and being mocked by her community and rejected by the society and think of today how we celebrate the very birth and when you think of how little we have progressed in our mentality, in our embodiment of compassion.
When you think Mother Mary conceived Christ outside of wedlock (yes religious group will say it was Holy Ghost, but lets take the zahir (outward reality) only and that reality was that she wasn't in marital relationship) and this is almost the time of celebration of the birth of Christ, and at the same time we are giving such cruel treatment to many mothers and their child who are born of similar circumstances (at least outwardly). The timely program of BBC from the very land, very town where Christ was born is such a huge irony to understand.
We can't help but see that its often the cultural aspect that still dominate our psychological makeup more than our humane qualities, compassion and even religious / spiritual teachings of love, compassion and justice.
Where is justice for these innocent children you may wonder if you listen to this program (download mp3 audio of the programme), where is compassion for them and for the young mother who are even raped by their own relatives and forced to give birth pre-maturely? All that is dominating and responsible is what is called 'family honor' which is an utterly tribalist mentality that supersede everything else including basic human rights and minimum compassion worthy from a human being of conscience.
[>] Listen to: Heart And Soul (23/12/2009) Refuge Bethlehem
Also, . BBC Program | Heart and Soul Podcast
3.

# Reference:
. Born in Bethlehem
. The Tradition of the Christmas Crib
. La Crèche ("The cradle")
. La Creche: Support group in France
. Bethlehem
. Christmas in Gaza
. Society of St. Vincent de Paul