CHRISTMAS WISDOM TRUE

When I was 23 years of age, I found myself sitting at a bar just a few days before Christmas. What I tell happened in that bar is true, for certainly I am not smart enough to have thought it up.

“Why in the world did the Wise Men bring gold, frankincense and myrrh to that baby Jesus, I mean, isn’t that some ostentatious crap?”  An old man who had a little too much, was ranting belligerently?  “I understand the gold, but what’s with the perfume stuff?  Did they need it in case the kid filled his pants?  What’s so wise about that?”

I could tell the other patrons were bothered by his carping so I tried to intervene with an answer.  After all, I didn’t want a History major, and Philosophy minor to go completely to waste.

“I know the answer to your question, friend,” I said.

After giving me the once over he said with a smirk, “Okay, then tell me!”

“The Wise Men knew that the Christ child was in grave danger.  King Herod was so fearful of the rumor of a Messiah, he sent his men out to kill all the new born babies.  So the Wise Men brought those three gifts for one reason alone, to help Joseph, Mary and child, get out of Israel, the sooner, and the better.   During this time, all three gifts were popular barter tender. Undoubtedly they used the gold frankincense and myrrh to buy passage on a caravan to flee to Egypt.  That meant crossing the harsh Sinai desert on camels.   That donkey that carried Mary would have never made it.”

The old man looked at me with a perplexed but amused expression.  The bartender added, “He told you!”

The old man smiled and said, “You’re a pretty smart kid, but I bet I know something about those Three Wise Men you don’t, I bet you a round, I know all three of their names?”
“I’m sorry sir,” I said trying to apologize my way out of this now very uncomfortable situation, “besides I don’t have the money to buy a round.”

“When I said I’ll bet you a round, I didn’t mean for you to buy it, I meant you had to drink it.  So do you think I know their names, or not?”

Not knowing how to play the game I said, “Sure”, tinge with a sigh of sarcasm.
The old man took a deep breath and said to the bartender, “Set up a ‘Three Wise Men’ for my young friend.”  

“Right away,” Bartender answered.  As he poured out three shots before me, the old man introduced me to each of the Wise Men. “This is Jack Daniels, this is Jim Beam, and this guy is Johnnie Walker.  Now how much wiser can you get?”

“Now drink up kid, cause a deal is a deal, I named them, now you drink them.”   As I sipped the tipsy old man wished everyone a Merry Christmas and left.

Once gone the bartender smiled and informed me, “He does this every year just before Christmas.  First he disses ‘The Gift of the Magi’, then too the first person who challenges him, he ends up buying them ‘The Gift of the Magi’.  I thinks it’s his way of preserving the true meaning of Christmas, by giving and sharing, even with those who don’t quite perceive Christmas in the same way you do.”

Ever since that night, so many years ago.  Just before Christmas, I always seek out a bar, to carry on that old man’s legacy, by buying the first person that defends the ‘Gift of the Magi’ with an order of ‘Three Wise Men’.