Fear for Holy Days

With these days that come with fear of death by virus or perchance at the hands of our countrymen, there seems little to draw us into the holidays. But we ought to reexamine the word is actually, “Holy-Days” that incorporates many different religions celebrating the winter solstice. This is a period meant for reflection, to expand horizons and to value those things we dash by in daily living — it is not a time of acquisition.

Still in my lifetime, with the exception of the Vietnam War, Americans have never been called upon to sacrifice at any level that mirror those of other “great” generations who battled several World Wars, Korea and Great Depression during the past century. Yet we are here being called to face fear and be mildly inconvenienced sharing the responsibility of saving others lives.

Sadly, many shallow citizens do not care about “the others” and argue from the position of self-service unwilling, even hating, to sacrifice. These are hardly the same folks you would want to share the same foxhole like the great generations that had to rely on common goals to live.

Moreover, some men of the cloth have joined voices with like-minded politicians who have grown rich pounding fists by declaring it is God’s will and the free will of humanity that gives political rights to cause harm to others. Somehow, these holy days have become the gunpowder for cannons that even now we aim at one another because, after all, somebody has to be at fault for our lack of comfort that we fortunate few have come to believe we are entitled and have grown fat on.

I would like to offer sage words to quell this mind numbing experience where my countrymen are in food lines, money is in short supply, climate changes have destroyed homes of many, and hospitals have corpses piled like dead flies on window sills, health care workers are staggering in exhaustion many of them dying assisting these same people that previously minimized their losses but ran out of words long ago to speak of this tragedy knowing when history is written everybody outside health care will be seen as self-centered.

Still there is redemption to be found this season in quiet solitary walks in nature and throughout our towns. We may yet brighten the dark winter nights with lights, trees, decorations and baked goods. There is time to wave and exclaim pleasantries to one another. We can rejoice for the warmth of our homes under blankets and beside fires. We can live our lives deciding to shun acquisitions and assist others. We can open books and become simpler so that in our simplicity and contemplation, we may be freer, forgiving, wiser and holy.

JAMES JONATHAN RUGGLES

Wallace