Scrooge notices 2 emaciated, dirty children hiding under the robes of the Ghost of Christmas Present. GCP tells Scrooge to beware of these children, the boy named Ignorance and the girl named Want.

We might apply 21st century psychology to the scene and guess that these are Scrooge’s own “inner child(ren).” Ignorance is Scrooge’s own ignor-ing of life around him. Want (which Buddhists might rename Desire or Craving) seems like a hungry ghost–a being with an extremely small mouth and only a large long-handled spoon, so that s/he can’t really feed her/himself. Want/Desire/Craving can never be satisfied. All the gold in the world can never satisfy Scrooge’s or our own deep hunger for love and connection.

The Ghost of Christmas Past mocks Scrooge’s concern for these children and warns him to beware of Ignorance, in particular. We, too, need to be very aware of ignoring our intentions, ignoring whether those intentions are skillful or harmful, because the results of our intentions and actions are our very future.