50 Christmases

On the 50th anniversary of my Grandmother Juanita's passing(who died on Boxing Day), I wrote a little story for my family. This was the 50th Christmas since my Grandfather Del's passing(who died in the spring), and I wanted to do something to acknowledge it too. But I just couldn't figure out what, and then life spun out of control this year and I wasn't able to do anything. I felt sad, and a little guilty about it, but that's life sometimes.

Tonight at church, I thought about him. Right as the candles were being lit and we started singing Joy to the World. I thought that it was sad he wasn't there singing and raising a candle with us. And then I glanced at my family sitting in the rows in front of me and caught a sideways glance of my cousin, M, who is the one who most physically resembles Grandpa Del, and I saw him. For just a moment, I saw him. And tears came to my eyes and fell before I could stop them. And I saw that he, and my grandmother, though they are no longer with us, are in fact with us. And in us. They are a part of who we are.

And as I thought about this again after another fun Christmas Eve party with my family, I had another realization: This, the 50th Christmas since my grandfather's passing, was the first Christmas in my recollection, that all four of his children were at that church service together. It may have happened before and I was too young to remember, or maybe before I was born, but I thought it was eerily appropriate to have all four together again this particular year.

Merry Christmas, to my family, here and in the beyond.

Classism, Better or Worse than Racism?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzNhaLUT520

The above video is one of the top viral videos of 2010. Every time I see anything related to it, I feel uncomfortable laughing at it. The people in this particular story are African American, but they are also poor. I realized that we as a society feel it's ok to laugh at poor people, whether they hail from the ghetto or the trailer park. Skin color doesn't really matter. Physical evidence of one's class level, such as missing teeth or garish make up are considered laughable. How a person speaks, denoting their education level and educational opportunities, are a cause of great hilarity.

I've definitely been guilty of this, and am coming to see that it's not funny. It's cruel. Why should I make fun of somebody else's opportunities in life? Why should I see them as a joke and less of a person than I am? Would I want somebody who was in a higher class than I am to laugh at me? No. So why should I do it to anybody else? This is something I am going to try and work on in the future. It's a bad habit, which can be hard to break, but I will make the effort from now on.

Happy Holidays!

I think it's a little bit ridiculous that people get so bent out of shape by the "Happy Holiday-zation" of Christmas. The Christmas season in our culture begins the day after Halloween and goes through New Year's Day. That includes several holidays. I don't think it's rude to wish somebody Happy Holidays. What I do think is a bit ridiculous, is trying to take items for specific holidays, such as Christmas, and renaming them "Holiday" fill-in-the-blank. It's a Christmas tree, not a Holiday tree. By renaming it a holiday tree, I don't think Jewish people are going to now rush out to buy one for Chanukah. Think of it the other way around. What if we insisted on renaming a Menorah a "Holiday candle holder", so that Christians and Muslims and Jews alike can enjoy it. It's stupid.

So, here's how I look at it: In speaking to people, unless you know for sure what they celebrate, stick with "Happy Holidays". In naming objects, call it what it really is. Christmas tree, Christmas ham, Menorah, Kinara, etc.

And I think people who get upset that they aren't having Christmas shoved down their throats 24/7, should think of the fact that they most likely get a paid Christmas break from work, as well as possibly time off for Easter, and Thanksgiving, when people of other faiths must use vacation time if they want their holidays off. So, maybe, fair is fair??

Helping the Homeless

I've talked with people lately about Nickelsville and the homeless and whether we should support them or not. A lot of times I hear this, "Well it's ok for the people who are there because they can't help it, the economy or whatever, they totally deserve to be helped. But, there are so many people out there who choose to live like this." So, I guess it's ok if you're homeless because you can't help it, then it's ok to pity you and help you, but if you're just lazy or a drunk or whatever I'll judge you to be, you can just sit on the curb and freeze and starve. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I mean I get that logic in one sense, some people do "choose" to live a homeless lifestyle. But not all of them. So how do we pick and choose which people to help and which ones to tell to bugger off? I dunno, but I think you can't go wrong with helping everybody. If that makes me a naive chump, then so be it.

Snow!!

As we are dealing with the start of "Snowpocalypse 2010", I hear a lot of people complaining about the mayor and how everything is his fault. I can't help but come up with a list of things that significantly impacted this storm, that the mayor had nothing to do with. They include:

*Not listening to the warnings a week in advance and putting snow tires on your car, and carrying chains in your trunk.

*Driving your car too fast in the snow.

*Hitting the breaks too quickly in the snow and not giving yourself enough space from the car in front of you.

*Leaving your car in the middle of the freeway.

*Insisting on driving to work when everybody in the local media is urging people to take the bus.

I'm sure there are actually many more things that people are doing that aren't due to the mayor...

Grandpa Del

To my Grandpa Del,

I never knew you, but I would have loved to. I wish you could have told me about your war days in the Pacific. I wish I could have heard your voice. I wish I could have felt you hug me. I miss having you in my life. It's not fair that you were taken before I had a chance to know you, but that's the way it is. Tomorrow is Veteran's Day, and I will be thinking of you. Thank you for the sacrifices you made for this country, your family, and me. Even though you returned alive, you did not return untouched by war. All who fight are changed, and yet you went anyway. Thank you and I love you.

-Your granddaughter Summer

Capitalism in America, is it really Working?

This week I had a moment of realization that our nation's economy is built up, and dependent on the concept of people spending beyond their means. Getting loans from financial institution that they are now having to walk away from because the economy is so bad. Now that the economy is stalled, people are getting their acts together and beginning to live within their means. But that also means they're not out getting loans to stimulate the economy. So the economy remains as bad as ever. What will eventually happen is people's confidence will grow, and then they'll get the loans and go about living beyond their means again. And thus the cycle will begin again. Are these occasional crashes and restarts just a part of the Capitalism life-cycle? Is it the price we must pay to live the way we do? And what is the alternative? What happens if people everywhere continued to live within their means. To make do with less? What happens to capitalism and the American way of life then? Can it evolve beyond it? Can it even survive? Or is this just a horrible mess we're forced to continue to live in forever and ever amen?