Holiday Traditions

It’s the holiday season. No matter if you celebrate Christmas, Kwanza, or Hanukkah, there is one thing we all share in our way of celebrating. That is the sharing of traditions.

When you are a youngster, you don’t see the holiday as one of traditions. The excitement of the preparations makes everything blend. Our parents, if they have had different traditions growing up, generally work through which traditions are maintained and at the same time add some of their own. To the younger crowd, the effort is somewhat seamless.

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Loneliness. Alone. Solitude.

Washing dishes is a chore from which I seldom shy. There’s something about attacking those microcosms in among the stacks of dirty dishes that I find satisfying. Few chores, can one do and get instant gratification as gazing on a sink of sparkling glass and silverware. I most often do them alone as the respite is quieting and welcome.

I have a friend who is on a new path on her life journey. She says she used to be alone, but not lonely. Now she feels she is both as she processes the end of her marriage.

Giving Til It Hurts

Earlier this week I was thinking of the adage “give til it hurts”. I am generous with time, talent, and money and rarely give it a thought of how much I give.  I try to live by the words “there is always enough to share, no matter how little you have”. Remember Mark 12:44?

As it turns out, this was a week for several people I know who were considering helping other people. One blogger wrote of passing a woman on the street, pushing a cart with a “spare change” cup at the front. She had passed the woman and then went to catch up to offer her money, which the woman refused. To the writer, she had thought she was sharing what she had even though she has minimal herself.

Maine Life

I experienced the opportunity to visit Downeast Maine last week. Scarcity of any  signs of civilization, which some may find a culture shock. As many of my road trips are, it was an adventure. What should have been a 2 1/2 hour tour, turned to 3 hours. Along the way I met interesting people who remind me why I live here.

Practice Peace

How is it that some of the most influential people in our lives are not necessarily the ones we love, or even particularly like.

One such person that comes to mind one is a professor I knew. He is from the generation that Tom Brokaw coined the “greatest generation”. If you can get through the bubble of ignorance my former professor lives in you would find he actually is intelligent. To get to that, you have to be willing to ignore his other, not so wonderful traits.

He cuts down religions; races; women; political views;anything that isn’t his opinion or prejudice. I particularly disliked his treatment of women. He would ask the young men in class to agree with him. They would, for the same reason the young women wouldn’t defend themselves. He held the cards to their future. I don’t believe he meant any harm. He would have had to have been aware of a world outside of himself.