I really love the holiday season but this Christmas has been alot harder to celebrate than most. I’ve found myself for the first time ever not at all excited about the cookies, the shopping and presents, or even my favorite Christmas movies. It’s not hard to figure out why. Wars raging around the world, in the Sudan, the Congo and Ukraine, the genocide in Gaza and cruel apartheid violemce and persecution in the West Bank, and famine in parts of Africa, Yeman, Gaza and Afghanistan. And it’s not much better here at home. Worries about poverty and climate change and the increasing wildfires and extreme storms, droughts and floods it’s causing. The rise of extremist, racist, anti immigrant hate based, far right, science sceptics populism politics and policy that are constant news these days. It’s bad news all the time, and it really takes a heavy emotional and mental toll.
But regardless of my stressed out feelings, I did what I always do: put up my tree and decorations, did a little Christmas baking and attended a few holidays events, and even watched and enjoyed some of my favorites classic Christmas TV shows and movies. And like always, it worked. Christmas is magical still and this year taught me that.
I grew up in a progressive Christian environment and that has greatly influenced how I think about Christmas. The values behind the holiday, of charity, mercy and love were taught to me as the message of season, and I’ve never forgot that. They’re what gives Christmas it’s meaning and magic, and in times like these we need Christmas and it’s magic more than ever.
Christmas matters because the human heart and our humanity matter. Today, when hate is more common and respected than love, it’s too easy for us to disregard and devalue it. Christmas then becomes either just another day off or a debt ridden spend fest. We’re being driven by hate based cynicism to ignore and deny our reality and ultimately ourselves. If Christmas and it’s meaning doesn’t matter, then we, with our hopes, kindnesses, need, blessings and love, don’t matter.
So let’s make this Christmas matter. Let’s celebrate love, charity, hope for and faith in a better world this holiday season and in the upcoming year.
Let’s pray for those living in fear, suffering, enduring starvation, poverty and want, and wars of hatred, power, politics and ego, for those living in Gaza, the West Bank, the Sudan, Ukraine, the Congo, Haiti, Yeman and Afghanistan. Pray for the animals caged, abused and used for human profit and service, suffering and enduring pain, fear and misery in factory farms, roadside and inadequate zoos, aquariums, labratories, fur farms, and being hunted, trapped, or used and abused for tourist dollars.
We have all become lost in this world of hate, greed, gluttony, commerce, cynicism and cruelty chic. Where kindness, truth, fairness, charity, goodness, morality, ethics, honor, decency are for geeks, losers, “libtards”, the weak, and the extremists. It’s time to break free of this world that our world has become, with its enforced social denials, dishonesty and constructs. You can do anything in it it seems except be kind, care or speak or stand up for the truth. For those, you are penalized and often brutally.
So this Christmas, choose to care, be kind, and be loving. Including to yourself. That’s the only path to peace and justice, to progress and prosperity, pleasure for all. It is also the dream of all time, of all people and faiths. And it’s the dream that comes alive every holiday season. So make Christmas matter by honoring your heart and humanity. That’s where true change and progress is made. What Christmas teached us every year is that where there is love, there is magic and if we remember that and are not too ashamed of being uncool to show it, then we can bring the magic to life, for one and all and animals too.
I hope you all have a wonderful, peaceful holidays and Christmas, and a new year filled of good news, good memories and joy. Thank you for caring and I look forward to sharing with you the journey into the new year and hopefully better days and years to come.
