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Saturday will be the shortest day of the year. All month darkness has come earlier and daily the sun has risen later. Slowly, oh so slowly, come mid-January, the darkness will lift. We are in the middle, not the end of the season of darkness.
People, however, are the species of hope, as we are the only species with art in its culture. “Hope is the thing with feathers” wrote Emily Dickinson.
For Christians, next week celebrates the birth of Jesus. Church founders placed that birth at the darkest moment of the year. All around them, people were celebrating. The birth of the son of God would join that time of festivals.
Saturday is the solstice. Native peoples celebrate the solstice as the birth of light, the start of the climb back from dark and cold. Their elders and priests looked past the darkness to a new season, a new year.
Santa, of course is the most hopeful of figures, bringing toys universally to all. This week’s editorial reprints the single most published editorial ever, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”
As a nation, we are in agreement that we are in a dark moment and oddly are in agreement to its cause: It’s the other guys, the other side. The clouds that darken our future, “they” are the reason. There is a heart of darkness, but it is their hearts, not ours. The other side hates. Our side is pure and good.
My younger sister once said, “Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”
But it is not only the other side that is angry.
How do we get out of this collective dark moment? “The ballot box” is not the right answer. There is no easy answer and the solution will not come quickly.
Here’s the thing about hope: you first find light to guide your way out of your own dark time. Hope expands as you join others and climb together toward a better, brighter future. Best if that is all of us, as in “We the People.”
The cliche is true: you cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. Anger and a hopeful future is an impossible circle to square.
Ever see an angry Santa? It’s because he is jolly that he slides down chimneys.
The future is before us, fluttering, drying its feathers, adding meat to its muscles. All cultures’ stories point to a brighter future. Hope is essential to each.
While giving gifts during the darkest time of the year, think kindly of those with anger in their hearts.
Lighten your own heart, at least.
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