I’ve written this column for nearly nine years, a decent amount of time indeed, but as I started working for Dolphin Talk in the month of February, that means only eight holiday seasons have passed since then, but that still means eight columns mainly focusing on the holiday season, eight chances to try and make words be either entertaining, heartwarming, or my favorite, writing about the true spirit and nature of a season where writers like Henry Longfellow wrote: “…peace on Earth, goodwill to men!”
A season where perhaps we all see what happens when thoughts of love, peace, and charity are in our consciousness, where the idea of giving is taught to override the taking when we do, sometimes comedically so, break bread with people we normally try to avoid and love them too.
This year no matter how we look at it or where we stand, the world has changed around us and this holiday season means more than ever, it is a reminder, a chance to reach out, give anything you’re able, and culminates in the year’s end, the calendar change filled with hope that 2021 is better than 2020.
Some of us are probably awaiting the season with the best in mind, looking for the soothing salve of the holidays to bring hope into the picture in a year where it has been few and far between.
Others will be at wit’s end, wishing it was any year prior but this one, the strife of the world today stripping their finances, they may be out of work for multiple reasons, hoping that calendar can really work its magic.
Loss of a family member and having a family member still with us will almost pull at each other like magnetic poles over the population, both its ‘pulls’ being the result of love and affection at its heart.
Many different situations, all across the scale, how do we get them to meet, how do we get the opposite to feel joy and the hope of the season?
The thing is there is no how, there is no reason why either.
No amount of money is needed although it could indeed play a part, no great sacrifices or task, just forgetting your background, forgetting your gripes, forgetting your pride when you need to reach a hand, and forgetting that you are a part of a community of billions of other Humans, no matter how high or low you might be.
It sounds like some insane nonsense, the words of a person with their head in the clouds and feet far from the ground, but I always feel that deep down Human beings are inherently good, it is only the fog of daily life and the unbalanced settings around us that make us forget what is truly important, what is at our core.
That is how I will try to focus this year at the holidays which were never the best of times for me, but I feel it’s important to embrace the most fundamental ‘reason for the season,’ a celebration of Human joy, love, giving, and kindness.
