It is a lovely day in the neighborhood. The birds are singing. A little dog is running. Aaron’s birthday is tomorrow. A joyful time. An exciting time. A time to throw off shackles of worry. Time to seek a better tomorrow.

I am using my Christmas present that I received in August. The new Mac nearly does my writing for me. It is quick and sleek. Something I never was.

Santa Claus is coming to town. He knows who has been naughty or nice. I am trying to be nice.

‘Are you as excited as I am about Christmas, ‘Billy B asked Chet? ‘I have asked for a Big Swinger camera,’ Billy B said. ‘Money is tight but I hope Santa will come through for me,’ Billy B winked.

‘I am hoping for a Daniel Boone Action Figure,’ Chet replied. ‘The AF looks just like Fess Parker,’ Chet noted with glee. ‘Thelma says I should go to Sears and visit the Old Man to ensure my request is lodged,’ Chet laughed. ‘I watch Fess Parker portraying Daniel Boone weekly,’ Chet assured.

‘We shall go to Carbondale to Sears we will load into the 57′ Chevy right now,’ Neva J proclaimed. ‘Call Jane to go with us,’ Neva J giggled. ‘I will take him some Merlot to put him in a good mood,’ Neva J said with authority.

‘My goodness Sears is decorated magnificently,’ Jane exclaimed. ‘I brought the Sears Wish Book with me to point to Santa what I want,’ Jane said with assuring sound. ‘He knows me he has been to my house,’ she said.

‘Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas,’ roared Santa! ‘What brings the Eldorado Kids to see me,’ Santa asked? ‘Could it be a Big Swinger camera and a Daniel Boone Action figure…what do you desire sweet Jane,’ Santa inquired? ‘The elves are loading my sleigh early this year due to budget cutbacks,’ Santa laughed.

‘Santa we all want surprises…could you just bring Peace On Earth Goodwill To All this year,’ Jane asked tearfully. ‘I have my Sears Wish Book marked but Kids are afraid…we want safety at school and at home,’ Jane whispered.

‘You know it has been sometime since I felt afraid,’ Neva J said. ‘I do not recall the last school shooting,’ Neva J continued. ‘Could I see the unusual Big Swinger Photo you have of the Angel at the door of the school,’ Neva J smiled through her tears…

Not everyone is happy. Some have their sadness magnified during the holidays. Life brings joy and sorrow. Sorrow hangs on our shoulders like a wet blanket in winter.

Harkening back to things that make us feel better is a good thing. Music helps. Geographical locations that bring us peace help. Friends help. None of us know the burden our neighbor is bearing. I heard Kentucky Governor Beashear say he believed we are all God’s children and would not be mean to kids. What a lovely thought from a leader.

We are children seeking acceptance and understanding of grace. We know it when we feel it. Where everyone is King and Queen in their home. Where everyone feels at home in their Country.

“It’s just thumb and walk and wait and I’m still 500 miles away from home…’

‘Teardrops fell on Mama’s note When I read the things she wrote She said, ‘We miss you, son, we love you, come on home’ Well, I didn’t have to pack I had it all right on my back Now I’m 500 miles away from home.’

‘Away from home, away from home Cold and tired and all alone Yes, I’m 500 miles away from home…’ Bobby Bare

We want to go home. Create Home for someone…

Longfellow wrote, ‘I heard the bells on Christmas Day.’ The poem was written during the Civil War, a time of strife, division, and death in the United States. Henry said, ‘Their old familiar carols play, and mild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

So it goes with us. The Bells are ringing in our divided nation. We will gather around our Christmas Trees, eat our Christmas Pudding, and thank God for his gift of the Christ child. As we wish our neighbors well and think of the poor, can we imagine that families unlike us are doing the same?

‘I simply can not wait for Christmas, Jane said with glee.’ ‘I have been waiting for it all year,’ Jane added. ‘This year we are going to Gatlinburg, Tennessee for Christmas,’ she laughed as she rubbed her tiny hands together.

‘I have the Merlot packed,’ Neva J exclaimed. ‘We will have steaks at the Peddler,’ Neva J grinned. ‘I can not wait to ride the Sky Lift,’ she winked.

‘I am especially excited that Rosie is coming with us this year,’ Chet offered. ‘She often spent Christmas alone until Neva J made her a friend,’ Chet said. ‘Rosie loves JFK,’ Chet noted.

‘Rosie was shunned by her family for being an old school Democrat,’ Billy B said. ‘They are all fans of Barry Goldwater,’ Billy B explained. ‘It seems to me that culture has invaded politics in many ways…there was a time when all poor people were Democrats,’ Billy B continued.

‘Could it be that politicians are playing with us to obtain what they want,’ Chet smiled slyly?

The leaves are graciously giving up their positions on trees. Fall Rain has a way of expediting the process. We humans are involved with our concerns while nature goes merrily along.

Rain soothes the soul. It brings the troubled heart into focus, especially with Classical Christmas music. Our year on Earth will soon pass. Another is waiting in the wings. Troubled we are as we seek comfort in institutions. Hope we have as we look skyward for inspiration. Our best efforts are flawed. God’s message of love is eternal.

Fear has an inordinate place in our psyche. We have many problems and want a leader to solve them for us. Rain gently falls. Leaves are doing their thing. Tomorrow is another day.

Christmas is nearing. We erect the Christmas Tree on Sunday. Believing in the bedrock principles of Christ’s message brings comfort. In the good days and the bad Jesus loves the little children all the little children of the world. Red yellow black and white…all are precious in his sight.

Robert Fulguhm wrote the bestseller, All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten.

‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow, reap, or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?’

I watched a documentary on the Heaven’s Gate Cult. We are susceptible to suggestions from those who have a skewed idea of life. You will recall their mass suicide as they prepared to leave Earth in a flying saucer. The history of the Cult goes back many years before the mass suicide. We humans are searching for answers.

Think.

A happy life requires our participation. No strongman is going to rescue us. Hate with the strength of water from a fire hose is wrong. We were taught it was wrong and nothing has changed.

We are diverse. Faith is diverse. If you doubt that look at the theocratic governments in the Middle East. How is it we think we have the corner on God’s Market?

Fall temperatures have returned to Little Egypt. We are on a short path to the holidays. There are still beautiful leaves hanging on. We must follow their example.

I enjoy allegory. I think in allegorical terms. Always have. As the saying goes I was born that way. I love literature where the reader has to decide the authors intent and message. Such is life.

Of late classical Christmas music has brought me solace. The birth of Christ brought hope to a troubled world. Not unlike today. We are born into a tempest we live to make it better. A test for the ages.

Our present distress is wrought from not knowing each other. We judge our neighbor’s intent by the hateful speech of those who do not have our best interest at heart. My friend Peter wrote of demonstrating the love of God that we know. A tremendous thought for troubled times.

Our Country is a bold experiment that has no precedent. Melting Pot is easy to say and hard to do. Political leaders have inherited 330 million humans who have been systematically divided for many years. It has been incremental in its insidious result. Somewhat like going into debt to the point of bankruptcy one day at a time.

Communication understanding caring do not happen on the national level. They happen locally with neighbors congregants school boards and local governments. Acceptance occurs when your friend is Gay…your neighbor is of another race…your table is full of people from all over the world. It is hard to hate those you love.

Art aids in acceptance. Reading helps. Conversation with a listening ear is important. Love at first sight is an allegory. Love grows from the little things. A smile when you are sad. A had extended when you are weary. A visit when you are sick.

I have heard it said that famous people who are brown or black-skinned are often not thought of as members of a race but as friends. We can improve. We can be better. It will never happen by waiting for a Theocracy that is fashioned in the narcissistic leader’s own image.

MJ and I were Magic Box shopping this weekend. We have admired Steve Martin’s hand-crafted boxes since last century. There is nothing like them. Hidden compartments and special buttons reveal a world unseen. They are art with a practical purpose.

Look at what we do in our environment. Some rejoice, some grieve, while the call goes out to make our world better. When we surface gaze, we see a static world filtered through our kaleidoscope. Life is what we make it. Pushing the right buttons yields mysteries revealed.

Change is constant. What is today will not be tomorrow. Adaption is a struggle. We value a sense of place home hearth routine and expected expectations. The best of us are a bit elitist in our expectations of others.

Penguin is a fascinating show on HBO. In the last episode of the season, Penguin is telling his young protege that those who have not experienced what it is like to be underestimated pushed down ignored do not understand what the heartless treatment does to the person receiving it. So it goes with life.

The current status of our politics is not the brilliance of one man as the misunderstanding and ignoring of many women and men. The Box Maker told me about the construction of individual cells. They are encased in a hard box. Such is each of us. We are placed in a demographic box and assumed to be all alike. In reality, we are a Magic Box with secret drawers and hidden passages. To know us leaders must take time to learn.

Voiceless we are. Our opinion is asked and ignored. Promises are made and not kept. Communication is the key to understanding. When we break bread together we don’t hate…we care…

Healing will not come in deporting. Healing will not come in mandating theocracy. Look into the Magic Box that is each human you meet and see the mysteries of the Creator…

Sunday is here again. ‘Ma is in her kerchief, and I am in my cap. ‘ Oh, wait, it’s not quiet yet. Fall is progressing nicely. I walked in the rain yesterday and liked it. I have found I dry out. Everything is the same everything is different.

The land of the free and the home of the brave has what President Roosevelt called, ‘nothing to fear but fear itself.’ Fear either energizes or paralyzes.

When we look at our fellow travelers, we see through our prism. We make suppositions without basis in fact or empirical data, pigeonholing people we do. Leaders are notorious in the art of pigeonholing. Elections are lost due to pigeonholing. Assuming someone will vote a certain way due to their education or craft. Many are self-educated as was President Lincoln. Many feel forgotten because they have been forgotten.

We are complex. All Hispanics do not think alike. African Americans are not all looking for the same things. We look out of our windows of the soul we rarely take the time to look in…

All is not lost. Hope endures. The structure to create a safe country for all people is still in place. Democracy is here…if we can keep it. Each of us is called to work. There is no vacation from Democracy. ‘Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning.’

This afternoon, the rain fell steadily on campus. Classical Christmas was playing on iTunes, and I felt transported from this time to earlier holidays. Christmas is inspirational. The song tells us we need a little Christmas right this very minute. Memories haunt the dark recesses of our minds. Hate displayed against us or to those we know lurks just under the shadows of the doors to our hearts. We know what it felt like we do not want to feel it again.

Yesterday we felt the light of a new day warm our souls. Today we feel the creeping darkness of a familiar evil. Wisdom is known of her children. We seek counsel.

Some lead by divide and conquer. Brother against sister mother against daughter son against father. Fealty is required. Learn to bow the knee and practice faux allegiance. Don’t make waves my seniors told me when I began at University. Don’t stick your head up too high or you will get it chopped off…they said.

Our field of vision is 20/20. We see the suffering we smell the fear. We will be alright we blend in no one will know us for who we are in secret. Torches burn brightly. Mouths shaped by hate glow in the etheral darkness. Hate that can not be satiated…

Counsel we cry…what to do…where to go…what to say…how to live…

It is darkest before the dawn we heard said. Return we do to the house of our fathers…

Dad has a big safe house that he told us was our home. There are comforters on the beds and the delicious smell of bacon and eggs in the morning. Fresh coffee is perking and freshly squeezed orange juice is being served. It is our sense of place… home.

The obligations of a citizen in a civil society. What we owe each other. What our part to play is for the good of the society. Who is our neighbor? Why do they matter? We feel like an island…but are we?

Traditions that seemed to cut into our Theatre Baseball Bowling and Back Yard Barbecue hours were essential to the peace of home and our sense of it. Along the way, we decided we had no time for church. A bit old-fashioned dated and stale. The message in the Christian Churches was somewhat similar. Jesus loved the little children all the little children of the world. Christ cares for the poor marginalized for those who have no voice. Live his message and you will have a better life more satisfying and purposeful. No bells whistles extra money in your pocket…just a quiet assurance that in others you see the Master…

We said ‘you are welcome’ when someone thanked us. We did not say curse words in public nor take the name of the Lord in vain. Businesses closed on Sunday and those staying open did not sell liquor. Many counties were Dry Counties.

Do not brag, boast, or highlight accomplishments. When another had a challenge physically or mentally, we did not point or stare; we did not relish differences to gain an advantage. Humility was a sought-after treasure.

We are lost. We did not know when it happened. We grew up around people who were consistent with our financial resources. If our neighbors were hungry, we fed them. If they needed clothes, we clothed them. When they were sick, we visited them. Each Sunday and often at mid-week service as well, the preacher told us of the love of Jesus. He loved us all, so they sent him to the Cross.

Give us Barabas…the Jewish throng cried as Jesus was led to the Cross…

‘Welcome to New Church,’ said Elder to the new parishioner. ‘We want to see your financial statement and expect you to give more than 10% to be a member in good standing,’ Elder continued. ‘Never fear you will soon be rich we leaders and God loves a cheerful giver,’ Elder smiled in front of his Mercedes Benz…

Happiness is not contingent on happenings. Joy is in the journey. The weathered among us are often at peace. Life is never what it seems in the moment. It is darkest before the dawn.

We think our times are either the best or the worst. Neither is true. Both are true. When we are full and have need of nothing, we want more. When we are hungry and cold and at a loss of freedom, we seek the little things that make life special.

The woods and ocean bodies of water in general comfort me. Kindness is precious. Hope travels on gossamer wings. Struggle is essential to life. That which comes easy is unappreciated. A new car soon does not shine. A new home needs repairs. Our lives require constant maintenance.

Remind me, dear Lord, is a refrain that applies to our species. Remember how it feels not to be a member of the In-Crowd. Most of us go unnoticed. We have no voice; we are unheard and unseen. Leaders pander to their base. They say the right thing to get elected. Needs that are outside that realm of narcissism are not important. The hungry child looks on in disbelief at their superpower of being invisible.

The Old Widow peers outside her window. She remembers when her voice meant something. Once she had money and many wanted to be her friends. Now she is forgotten or spoken to as if she were a child of little understanding.

‘Bacon will be cheaper now…the election went our way,’ the young worker said. ‘I love macho leadership…women are for the home and hearth while we men make the important decisions,’ YW proclaimed. ‘America for the ‘Real Americans,’ YW said as he forgot his lineage was from foreign lands.

‘Go back home, said the retired man. ‘You look different than me…so you must not be from around here,’ RM continued. ‘American Love It Or Leave It,’ RM said to the sixth-generation African American…

‘Walk a mile in my shoes before you judge me,’ said the Transgender American. ‘We have never met…you have never broken bread with me…how do you know what I have gone through how I have suffered…the ridicule and pain I have endured,’ asked TA?

‘Eggs are cheaper milk is the same price,’ Real American said. ‘Soon we will eliminate the undesirables,’ RA noted with a satisfied smile. ‘Property values will increase as soon as we rid ourselves of the enemy within,’ RA said…