243 Days of Blogging Day 24: Something True

Oh, the light was a New York Christmas baby
Snowflakes like diamonds in her hair
And we watched them all, sparkle and fall
Something almost true was in the air

“Tinsel and Lights”  Tracey Thorne

Many things have died in 2017.  One of the most obvious casualties of the year has been truth.  While I’m not one to suggest that we were well grounded in truth prior to this year, when #fakenews is meta-meme (people use it to say that the news is and is not fake) something has clearly been lost.

Before you stop reading, fearing that this is going to be one more diatribe about the evils of Trumpism, I want to focus on something much closer to home.  In our outrage and anger, something died in us as well (by us, I suppose I mean me, my gift is intended for me as much as anyone else).  It’s larger than a death of idealism (that really took it in the shorts), it’s a death of the ability to engage in the world with anything but the shield of deepest cynicism.  In the daily barrage of outrage we have settled into bunkers of depression.  Not only do we feel like we cannot win the big battles, we can’t do much of anything.  In the constant questioning of truth, we have also lost our own belief in truth, beyond terror at what may come next.

 But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely.

A Christmas Carol Stave I

So my wish for you, for us, my friends, is that you may spend the next year rediscovering the essential truths that make our lives worthwhile.  May our Christmas impulses toward generosity, love, and joy flow through our actions and our hearts throughout 2018.  Fight the feeling of global ineffectiveness by doing something in front of us, whether it be visiting group homes, donating food weekly, or e-donating to charities that will be hit by the changes to the tax code.  Every light is a light, and a good deed shines brightly in a weary world.  Spend time and open our hearts to the people we love, and love the people who have been taken from us.  Feel joy whenever and however we can, and get over the sense that feeling joyful in a dangerous time is somehow wrong.  And while feeling this joy, look for our companions who are falling under the waves and bring them up.

This is the truth of life.  We lose it easily, both from the actions around us and the cynicism that we use to protect ourselves.  But it is still there, and we can see it, generosity, love, and joy,  a tiny bit clearer at Christmas.

Merry Christmas All!

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