Most people like the Christmas season. It’s a time when we feel a little less critical of others, we spend time with family and friends and we put more thought into trying to make others happy. We hear Christmas music on the radio and in the stores, we see the decorations in neighborhoods and city streets, and there is the shared experience of joy and a greater desire for mutual understanding. I would imagine it is similar for those who aren’t Christians but celebrate other holidays. We feel a need to celebrate and strengthen the ties that bind us together. We speak of our experiences during these seasons as “spreading cheer”.
Contrast that to what we have all been experiencing in some degree over the last year, 5 years, a decade or more (depending on your sensitivity and where you live). I don’t think I’m alone in feeling that our society has become more vulgar, more divisive and more yech! (Maybe it isn’t a word, but it’s how I feel sometimes). I’m getting more than a little burned out and realized how much I was looking forward to this Christmas and how it would give me a chance to ignore all the garbage and enjoy all the cheer.
So let’s start a movement, or a determination–however you choose to look at it. I desperately want to go back to a time when we could all pull together and stand for something universal. That universal something doesn’t have to be a political policy or movement, it can simply be that we are all neighbors, or Americans, or Chinese, or global citizens–whatever and wherever you choose to find your group that you connect with. We all want a safe place to live out our lives and we want others to respect our right to have that safe place. That means that we do the same for others. As we seek to find understanding and empathy with those around us, we’ll come to know the peace that comes from “spreading cheer”.
