The lights of Hope

“I hate Christmas” she said, tears of sadness and anger welling up in her eyes. “What is so wonderful about this season? Take a look around: people are out of work, they walk with scowling faces, and a kid a wonderful young man is diagnosed with cancer” now the tears are streaming down her flashed face. They can take their cheer and shove it…”

 She is right you know, in a world where Europe, the cradle of Western civilization, the Alma Mata of many of us, is collapsing like a house of cards; where the Middle East remains a Tinder box ready to explode; where our young men fight and die in a back water country where women are killed because they had the temerity to get raped; In a world where USA has 13 million people out of work it is definitely hard to find the cheer in Santa’s HO, HO, HO.

 And yet, and yet… I look at the Christmas tree in the corner of my office heavy with lights and ornaments. Every single ornament lovingly unwrapped and placed on just the right branch because every ornament has a story and a wish attached to it. From time to time I allow myself to get lost in a fantasy of glitter and sparkle. There is the golden ball of hope, and the red one for our most treasured passions, and the glittery sparkling stars to guide our quest for self-understanding and tolerance, and the bells to remind us of something, although I don’t quite remember what, maybe responsibility? And yes, I believe everyone should have a tree. It symbolizes the part of us that has remained tall and proud and untarnished by the toxicity of our world. It is the part of us, the part of humanity that every now and then stretches its branches to the stars, like it has done for hundreds of thousands of years, and yearns and demands to be adorned with the ornaments of appreciation and the lights of hope.

 So, all the sorrows and pains of this world notwithstanding lets trim the tree and light it up with as many lights as possible because we all need a break from reality and a magical place and time to nurture Hope.