This year I was finding it rather hard to come up with content for this space for the rapidly approaching holiday season because admittedly for me personally those days are more often then not spent alone.
I’m not saying that to invoke sympathy or to throw myself a nice pity party (with cake, preferably chocolate please), but rather to express how unsettled I become when I see people in much better situations that cannot seem to do what I strive to do, which is to be a person that honors the true spirit of the season.
Regular readers of this space may recall that I have found myself in a quite serious situation over the past year, both health wise and financially. Again, this is not to try and get some form of sympathy, but rather to make a very important point.
Last night while visiting a local store I bumped into a man who claimed to be homeless and was walking the streets. Having very little to nothing myself, I still offered the man the change I had on my person which admittedly was not much and added up to less than a dollar.
However, the amount I gave is not the point, the point is that many today forget that the true meaning of the season is to give and love others. It is to give what you have in your heart to those less fortunate and pave the way for a better version of Humanity.
Recently on my personal blog I wrote about how I can indeed be somewhat of a Grinch around this time of year, but after writing that piece, I found myself most bothered not by my own losses or sense of ‘missing out,’ but rather that many that do not have to miss or pine away for the things I would love to have do not seem to get the point.
Many will stress themselves into oblivion over the next month and will place themselves in debt while celebrating the holidays. Some will whine on about the stress and difficulties this season brings to their plates.
The main thrust of Christmas is love however, and love needs no stress; love needs no gifts.
Instead of focusing on the things that do not matter much when all is said and done, I implore you to realign yourselves to your loved ones and the people you cannot imagine living without, and also those that go without the riches you possess yourself.
When the end of this life comes for us we will recall what is truly important, those we loved and the memories we shared with them, not a flat screen TV that has long ago become trash.
It is after all, the entire message of the man we have come to celebrate in the first place.
After this article was finished, actually the very day it was due, more mad violence has erupted yet again in the world in Paris, France.
People enjoying artistic performances and just living their daily lives were struck down in senseless attacks that will reverberate through all of our lives worldwide in time.
My thoughts are with those who have suffered these losses and for those responsible, beyond the anger and desire to bring these foes of Humanity itself to justice, I can only also ask the question of what these kinds of senseless attacks really solve.
Whatever your gripe with another faction of the world’s population, all this does is escalate hatred and violence and does nothing to solve the disputes that lead to such drastic measures in the first place. In fact, it makes them worse.
