farmdoc's blog post number 250

I’ve always thought Boxing Day is the day the boxes Xmas gifts had come in, were disposed of. But Wikipedia says it’s the day when people give presents, or Christmas boxes, to those who had worked for them throughout the year. In England it was once common practice for servants to carry boxes to their employers when they arrived for work on the first working day after Xmas. Their employers would then put coins in the boxes as special end-of-year gifts. Hence the name Boxing Day. But be this as it may, the word boxing invariably focuses my mind on the so-called sport of boxing. How can it be a sport when the aim is to inflict maximum injury on one’s opponent? Ideally to knock him unconscious. In the last 24 months 1,300 boxers have died due to boxing-related injuries. And many more have been permanently disabled. Boxing is deliberately brutal and dangerous. Therefore as a medical man I feel obliged to detest and oppose boxing. And I do. In my entire life, I’ve never punched anyone. I’ve never even donned boxing gloves. Unlike boxing, cricket and yacht racing are real sports. The Boxing Day Cricket Test against South Africa and the Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race both start today. It’s better to watch them than to go to the Boxing Day shopping sales. And buy more boxes.