Well, we’ve made another lap around our nearest star and as the last sparks of our annual New Year’s backyard bon fire fade into the night sky, it’s time to seize the opportunity to once again start afresh.
We are old school in our house, Christmas does not end until the Epiphany, this coming Saturday, January 6th. Before turning the lights out that night, we will read T.S. Eliot’s “The Journey of the Magi,” and reflect again on the three trees and the white horse galloping away as we begin the progression of ordinary time till the beginning of Lent when Eliot will again be pondered with a reading of “Ash Wednesday.”
These types of simple traditions are our acts of throwing starfish back into the sea as we watch the insane, wonton and seemingly planned degradation of Western Civilization. Our elite rulers are not longer hiding it anymore, they are outright rubbing our noses in it and blaming us. Over 300,000 known crossings by “asylum seekers” in December alone and the White House Press Secretary says the President is doing all he can to secure the border, but the Congressional Republicans are impeding his efforts. It is gaslighting in epochal proportions. While she finally resigned today, the President of Harvard’s parting shots were that the only reason she was being forced out was because of “systemic racism” - never mind the systemic plagiarism. In the name of defending “our democracy,” our overlords bring laughable ludicrous charges against their front-running opponent and actively seek through their operatives to deprive the voters the opportunity to choose who they want on the ballot. You don’t have to like Mr. Trump to see the maleficent actions and know it is just wrong.
All this being said, one of my New Year’s Resolutions/Promises is to borrow the phrase from Solzhenitsyn and live not by lies. We are at that moment where to paraphrase Solzhenitsyn, they are lying…we know they are lying…they know we know they are lying and still they lie. Live not by lies and seek the truth not the narrative they want you to believe. Ultimately, that was how the Soviet Union fell. The lies became too ridiculous and eventually their rulers could no longer hold back the truth. The same will happen here. I hope to use these pages in the coming year to drive this home. I know I am not alone, I know there are millions of us out here in this still great land that agree with what I am saying and I hope to add my perspective and my light to help get us out of this dark place we find ourselves in at the moment.
I look forward to your continued support, I encourage your active dialogue. Let us share the traditions, however small, that help us to seek the good, the true and the light. I’ll close with a small poem scribed a few years ago called “Taking Down Christmas.” I hope you enjoy it. I hope all of you had a wonderful Hanukah and Christmas and I wish each of you a joyous New Year! Let us go forth filled with light and hope.
TAKING DOWN CHRISTMAS
Taking down Christmas, The lights going dim. The pine tree stripped naked The crèche packed The ribbons trimmed. Bright were the sugarplums And the children’s eyes At stockings and presents When the 25th arrived. But now we wrap the ornaments And store them for the next year We are taking down Christmas The New Year is here. So, on with the change of the times, The “to-do’s,” the challenges, the fears. And resolutions and goals re-set All the make up the New Year. But when we are taking down Christmas, the thought must remain To be ever aware that God came to be with us… Our eternal gain.
Peace,
Marty
Agree. Ditto. You go girl, umm, boy! Faith has exited politics... and if you have no belief in a "higher power," then power rests in those who will use whatever "truth" to gain it. Washington on both sides suffers from this problem. Radical change is needed. I fear 2024 could be an echo of the 1968 political year of turmoil and violence. Loved the poem.
Wonderful thoughts on a wonderful day. We now live in the Disunited States, and things aren't getting better. It's an irony that Trump and especially his policies are our only hope. Otherwise, we go the way of the Roman Empire in the fifth century and the invasion of Vandals, Goths, Visigoths, and the rest.