Return To The Truth Of The Season

Sometimes when writing my posts, I wonder if “anyone is out there” and if the words on the page make any sort of mark, or impression, on those who might stop by and read.

In most cases the post sits there without comment until unexpectedly a note appears for moderation or a friend emails me on their opinion.

Such is the case with the following post from almost a year ago.

A friend recently emailed me that they were “very moved” by my post on “stuff” and they remembered that it was also written as a letter to the editor in the Warren Tribune Chronicle. She asked that I repost it for this “Season” since she felt that it was more poignant this year than last.

So with some minor editing here is a re-post of “Maybe This Year”.

Will this be the year that brings Thanksgiving and Christmas into a true perspective?

With high gas prices; many families displaced due to foreclosures on their homes; empty spaces around the dinner table because of a nation at war and finally the decline of the middle class into a state of poverty, will this bring about the sense of reality and spirituality that is Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Will this be the year that we realize it’s not about “stuff”? The over sized backyard grill or the large wide screen HDTV is not important when so much loneliness, hunger and poverty exists.

Will this be the year we get passed the tinsel, commercials and hype of bigger, better and more is important to feel good about ourselves?

Is this the year we realize, like Charlie Brown, that the Spirit of Christmas “makes the rest of the year worthwhile” and not the many rows of twinkle lights or spot lights on the outside decorations making even airport runways look dim?

Will this be the year, like Dickens’s ghost Marley, we see beyond the “stuff” and say “(humankind) should have been my business”?

If we do, then this would truly be a Merry Christmas.