I am pleased that so many people are buoyed by the joyous promises of this season and who take opportunities to connect with loved ones of all kinds to wish them well and, for many, to renew their faith in humanity and in whatever it is that they believe. We look for light and beauty in each other and in displays of colorful lights.
But all the cards and emails from friends, family, and businesses wishing peace and good will have begun to ring hollow for me. Promises of “renewal” have come to mean an empty ritual of repetition – making the new year like the last one, and the one before that, and so on. Our money will be used to kill more children and other innocent people through bombing, burying, or willful neglect. One of our political parties will continue to do everything possible to encourage the worst of humanity and to block any attempt to ease the suffering of vulnerable people. There is no holiday from death, poverty, or commercialism – thus showing us what our culture values most.
All those promises of renewal and rebirth seem little more than performative rituals because the promised transformations are beaten down by “special interests.” We turn back all too quickly to our routines of individual survival and commerce. It is evident that the American religion is Capitalism. Anyone with wealth becomes its priests, their money sacred and kept from even those who generated it. Anyone with hopes for wealth (beyond their need) becomes the true believers in its ideology. One’s value is counted in dollars, in power, and in image. Wealth and property have a higher value than human life. We get all solemn as we sacrifice our soldiers for the wealth and resources of the highest bidder, but we do it again and again.
Everybody loves the baby Jesus until he grows up to tell the wealthy to sell what they have and give it to the poor, and all of us to care for the immigrant and downtrodden, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and shelter the homeless – all that “woke” business – let alone love one another.
I work to dull the pain of feeling the suffering of children and other innocents, and the horror that many Americans embrace Fascist rhetoric and ideology, and that some of the worst examples of humankind are competing to rule our nation – all while this country pretends to be the shining light on the hill, a bastion of democracy, and a country built on laws. Would that these holidays could become genuinely holy days once more.
It’s all these discrepancies that make such holidays as this hard for me to celebrate as I used to. But the love of family and friends endures. The world still holds such beauty, and nature also gives me hope. Spring will come (for us). The Sun will rise again and again. And in all this, I still wish everyone a Happy New Year – one that will bring blessings of all kinds and perhaps the discovery of what beauty is possible for us.
Wishing a happy new year for all, and that the blessings of life, light, and love come to us all.