I'm not going to write this particular blog post, I'm going to turn it over to someone who speaks much better than I... our brilliant and admirable President:
"What matters is how well we have loved...and how, in some small way, we have made life better for other people... we should do everything we can to make sure that this country lives up to our children's expectations... what we can't do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other."
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Taking Down the Tree
The holidays are officially over - I took down the Christmas tree today. That warm evening in early December, when I draped it with lights and tinsel and hung my favorite ornaments, drinking wine and singing along to my Frank Sinatra Christmas album, seems like eons ago. Yet as I perform the whole ceremony in reverse, I marvel at the ornaments that we've accumulated over the years, almost all of them made or given to us by family and friends... we don't have a designer tree, that's for sure - but we have a tree that tells a story.
Although I admire what Jesus taught, I'm not a formal Christian - I've studied Buddhism for about 20 years now. So why do the rituals of Christmas mean so much? Some say it's a primal urge to celebrate the Winter Solstice, to share warmth and comfort during the days of dark and cold. Childhood memories are invoked - the pungeance of evergreen, the brightness of cinnamon, the crackling fire all create visions - no, not of sugarplums - but of my siblings and I with Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, all gone now. It's about honoring the ones we love - even though I did call my brother a bad name while playing a board game at Christmas - I love him anyway.
So nostalgia plays a part, but it's also a basic human need to huddle together in the dark of winter, light candles and remind ourselves that spring will come again, that we hope to enjoy another year of human foolishness and frailty. Another year to find just one brilliant piece of writing that will float about our consciousness forever, one more embrace to warm us against the inevitable future, one more adventure to keep our hearts racing... one more chance to be alive.
Although I admire what Jesus taught, I'm not a formal Christian - I've studied Buddhism for about 20 years now. So why do the rituals of Christmas mean so much? Some say it's a primal urge to celebrate the Winter Solstice, to share warmth and comfort during the days of dark and cold. Childhood memories are invoked - the pungeance of evergreen, the brightness of cinnamon, the crackling fire all create visions - no, not of sugarplums - but of my siblings and I with Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, all gone now. It's about honoring the ones we love - even though I did call my brother a bad name while playing a board game at Christmas - I love him anyway.
So nostalgia plays a part, but it's also a basic human need to huddle together in the dark of winter, light candles and remind ourselves that spring will come again, that we hope to enjoy another year of human foolishness and frailty. Another year to find just one brilliant piece of writing that will float about our consciousness forever, one more embrace to warm us against the inevitable future, one more adventure to keep our hearts racing... one more chance to be alive.
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