Two things crank up for me when Thanksgiving rolls around: the initial celebration of my birthday (which falls in January, but I start early) and holiday songs. On the iPod, I have a blended playlist of gospel, Christian contemporary and more seasonal numbers that whirl on steady repeat.
No chipmunks crooning about Christmas time being here. No cutesy songs about mommy rambling with Santa under mistletoe. I’m more of a classics gal looking to wind down with reflections on the meaning of the season and what the future holds in the upcoming year.
“O Holy Night” is one of my all time favorite Christmas songs. It is a steady “go to” for the depth and spirit of the holiday season for me. While there are a zillion versions that have been done, I’m partial to those from singers’ voices that tap into the emotion and meaning. Jennifer Hudson has one of those voices. May you have a warm Christmas Eve and joyous Christmas Day. Enjoy!
It isn’t lost on me that my last post before taking a hiatus was a reflection on the shooting in Aurora, Colorado. In that post, I’d asked:
What will change now? With each attack, each swing of mass violence, we lose an element of ourselves. AMC theaters say they will ban dressing up in costumes and bringing in fake weapon props. Will we move next into metal detectors and bag searches? Conveyor belt checkpoints on every entrance? Guards on the exit doors? What will be too little or too much? Where does it end?
On December 14, 2012, we saw that it doesn’t end. That the evil violence can crawl into the safe haven of a K through four school and cut down all trapped in the path. We lost 20 children and six staff in Sandy Hook Elementary School and the killer’s mother in her home. No sooner did the CNN breaking news e-mails kick out that the media spin began with listings of inaccurate facts and invasive journalists feeding on every bit. Note to reporters: Interviewing children minutes after they’ve survived a shooting is never okay. Ditto for focusing cameras on the faces and intimate moments of family members learning devastating news.
Those of us outside of the events started sharing our thoughts and emotions via social media. We prayed, cried, liked inspirational pictures on Facebook and started weighing in on the issues of gun control and mental health care. The fact that the target this time was little kids had sealed in a new level of horror and helplessness.
All week, I’ve been yearning for a way to make it all matter. To feel like there are some concrete actions we can embrace to work towards change in the face of yet another tragedy. There are no absolute answers. Just us in this moment, engulfed by the sadness with a choice to act in a new way. We can act so this isn’t a movement that ends once the cameras fade. That is the change.
Resources for Change (thanks to Connie Schultz for sharing these)
And by the way, everything in life is writable about
if you have the outgoing guts to do it,
and the imagination to improvise.
The worst enemy to creativity
is self-doubt. ~ Sylvia Plath
Barbara McDowell 