The Holiday Season

Well, the Holiday Season is upon us again.

This time of year reminds us that we can be better people than we are, and asks that we re-commit ourselves to be more generous, more compassionate, and more kind to those we meet in life. It is a shame that we submerge the more generous versions of ourselves after the holiday season, and not rediscover them until the Thanksgiving Day parades and football games are over. Unfortunately, sometime around mid January, or early February, we return to being our more self-centered selves. Although you might think me being more cynical than the season should allow, we ALL do it, including this blogger. Admitting anything less is being dishonest.

The good thing about the season is that it always comes again the next year. Even the scheduling of a holiday in the darkest part of the Northern Hemisphere's Winter seems calculated (from the standpoint of the old world Europeans who established it) to not just give us something cheerful to think about, but to remind us to be better than we are in the darkest times of our lives. To help us strive again for a greater nobility and gentleness in our spirit that is the defining worth of our species. To drive us to become better people than we currently are at that point in our lives and to express that improvement in the generosity of giving. In addition to making our children's Christmas joyous, we can express this best by giving our time to charities, giving food or clothing to that homeless person on the street, or giving money to a church or non-profit organization to help others in need.

In doing so, we all strive to remember the season in our hearts long past January 1st.

May the season bring out the best in all of us.