Meaning to Christmas

 

It’s that time of year again, when life is measured by retail sales and crowded parking lots. The roads are stuffed. Faces show tension. It’s a time of great stress. A news report says lots of people die during that two weeks around Christmas and New Year’s because they put off medical treatment. Indeed, many people see the holidays as a time to get through, gleaning moments of enjoyment between hours of annual chores and forced smiles with family. Hoho, flippin, ho.

Snow has fallen over a large portion of our great land, causing countless added troubles. The mega-stores can point their collective finger of disappointment at the heavens because it’s better than blaming the lack of jobs and rising interest rates, which would be unpatriotic. After all, the government says the economy is growing faster and Wall Street is riding an upsurge. Of course, no one really knows what’s going on with the economy, and that’s a tradition that pre-dates just about everything.

It’s a strange time. Maybe it’s my own curious life, but it just doesn’t feel Christmas-y this year. The post-election backwash continues to swirl about. The latest count in the Washington gubernatorial race featured a margin of ten votes out of almost three million. The Ohio count is still looking suspicious, as are those of Florida and New Mexico, but it’s unlikely John Kerry will be inaugurated next month. Still, things feel incomplete, and worse, they don’t feel like they’ll be resolved when the calendar flips.

One reason may be because the horror in Iraq pioneers new depths on a continuing basis. It’s hard to think about the hundred families of the soldiers who were killed or maimed when they sat down for lunch at their mess in Mosul. Christmas will never be the same for them. Too bad they didn’t think about that before the election.

For the first time, I didn’t buy any Christmas presents this year. I printed up calendars with some of my photographs to give to my family and some close friends. But my five nephews and a niece won’t be gifted until after all the, um, fun slows down. They won’t miss a thing, they live wonderful lives as it is. When something arrives late from their eccentric eclectic uncle, well, it will hardly be out of character.

I’d like to feel good about Christmas, but circumstances don’t seem to warrant it. Maybe when we restore the Christ Consciousness it will be time again. But in the meantime, a heartfelt Merry Christmas to all.

And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.

 

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