Topic: Christmas
Days before the shock of last Friday's school shooting, I was already writing about the darkness of Christmas.
Suddenly, Christmas, 2012, was shattered for us all by a young man whom nobody would have predicted to be capable of making a name for himself, in such a way, on the last day of his life! A young man who must have felt immensely powerless until something snapped.
For Ron and I, we had just finished a quiet, elegant meal with dear friends, at our own dining table. Conversation suddenly halted when Ron picked up the news from the radio, turned down low, in another part of the house.
This makes us stop and think about our own children and grandchildren. It forces us to re-visit discussions that have kept us in gridlock on gun control. They are age-old questions about freedom and rights--the same philosophical questions that surround so many other issues that divide our nation today.
If we are honest, the tragedy makes us also stop and think about the blend of darkness and light in ourselves and all of the people who cross our paths. We are confused. We are puzzled. We are troubled. None of which makes Christmas seem like Christmas.
Seems to me the only thing left for most of us is to search our own souls, so we do not lose sight of "whatsoever is good....." For only by keeping our eyes on things that "have virtue and are worthy of true praise" can we most contribute to the changes needed in our world, especially in the United States. I'm talking about limits on people who, for whatever reason, seem to live on another planet where Christmas cannot be found.
