Adam Schiff should be our President

The Trump Impeachment trial continues.

I am depressed as I predict that the Senate will not allow witness statements, and then will acquit Trump.  This means that we have a Dictator in the White House.  What that means for our nation is terrifying for me to consider.

Adam Schiff, the Democratic congressman from California and one of the prosecutors in the trial, gave an impassioned closing argument that should go down in history.

Here is the transcript:

Adam Schiff: (00:00)
But even now, our ally can’t get his foot in the door. Even now, our ally can’t get his foot in the door. This brings me the last point I want to make tonight, which is, when we’re done, we believe that we will have made the case overwhelmingly of the President’s guilt. That is, he’s done what he’s charged with. He withheld the money. He withheld the meeting. He used it to coerce Ukraine to do these political investigations. He covered it up. He obstructed us. He’s trying to obstruct you and he’s violated the Constitution. But I want to address one other thing tonight. Okay. He’s guilty. Okay. He’s guilty. Does he really need to be removed? Does he really need to be removed? We have an election coming up. Does he really need to be removed? He’s guilty. Is there really any doubt about this?

Adam Schiff: (01:09)
Do we really have any doubt about the facts here? Does anybody really question whether the President is capable of what he’s charged with? No one is really making the argument, Donald Trump would never do such a thing, because of course we know that he would, and of course we know that he did. It’s a somewhat different question though to ask, okay, it’s pretty obvious whether we can say it publicly or we can’t say it publicly. We all know what we’re dealing here with this President, but does he really need to be removed? And this is why he needs to be removed. Donald Trump chose Rudy Giuliani over his own intelligence agencies. He chose Rudy Giuliani over his own FBI Director. He chose Rudy Giuliani over his own National Security Advisors. When all of them were telling him this Ukraine 2016 stuff is kooky, crazy Russian propaganda. He chose not to believe them. He chose to believe Rudy Giuliani. That makes him dangerous to us, to our country. That was Donald Trump’s choice. Now, why would Donald Trump believe a man like Rudy Giuliani over a man like Christopher Wray? Okay. Why would anyone in their right mind believe Rudy Giuliani over Christopher Wray?

Adam Schiff: (02:49)
Because he wanted to and because what Rudy was offering him was something that would help him personally. And what Christopher Wray was offering him was merely the truth. What Christopher Wray was offering him was merely the information he needed to protect his country and its elections, but that’s not good enough. What’s in it for him? What’s in it for Donald Trump? This is why he needs to be removed. Now, you may be asking how much damage can he really do in the next several months until the election? A lot. A lot of damage. Now, we just saw last week, report that Russia tried to hack or maybe did hack Burisma. Okay. I don’t know if they got in. I’m trying to find out. My colleagues on the Intel committee, House and Senate, we’re trying to find out, did the Russians get in? What are the Russian plans and intentions? Well, let’s say they got in and let’s say they start dumping documents to interfere at the next election.

Adam Schiff: (04:01)
Let’s say they start dumping some real things they hack from Burisma. Let’s say they start dumping some fake things they didn’t hack from Burisma, but they want you to believe they did. Let’s say they start blatantly interfering in our election again to help Donald Trump. Can you have the least bit of confidence that Donald Trump will stand up to them and protect our national interest over his own personal interest? You know you can’t, which makes him dangerous to this country. You know you can’t. You know you can’t count on him. None of us can. None of us can. What happens if China got the message? Now you can say, he’s just joking of course. He didn’t really mean China should investigate the Bidens. You know that’s no joke.

Adam Schiff: (05:00)
Now maybe you could have argued three years ago when he said, “Hey Russia, if you’re listening, hack Hillary’s emails.” Maybe you could give him a freebie and say he was joking, but now we know better. Hours after he did that Russia did, in fact, try to hack Hillary’s emails. There’s no Mulligan here when it comes to our national security. So what if China does overtly or covertly start to help the Trump campaign? You think he’s going to call them out on it or you think he’s going to give them a better trade deal on it? Can any of us really have the confidence that Donald Trump will put his personal interests ahead of the national interests? Is there really any evidence in this presidency that should give us the ironclad confidence that he would do so?

Adam Schiff: (06:00)
You know you can’t count on him to do that. That’s the sad truth. You know you can’t count on him to do that. The American people deserve a President they can count on to put their interests first, to put their interests first. Colonel Vindman said, “Here, right matters. Here, right matters.” Well, let me tell you something, if right doesn’t matter, if right doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter how good the Constitution is. It doesn’t matter how brilliant the framers were. Doesn’t matter how good or bad our advocacy in this trial is. Doesn’t matter how well written the Oath of Impartiality is. If right doesn’t matter, we’re lost.

Adam Schiff: (07:14)
If the truth doesn’t matter, we’re lost. Framers couldn’t protect us from ourselves, if right and truth don’t matter. And you know that what he did was not right. That’s what they do in the old country, that Colonel Vindman’s father came from. Or the old country that my great grandfather came from, or the old countries that your ancestors came from, or maybe you came from. But here, right is supposed to matter. It’s what’s made us the greatest nation on earth. No constitution can protect us, right doesn’t matter any more. And you know you can’t trust this President to do what’s right for this country. You can trust he will do what’s right for Donald Trump. He’ll do it now. He’s done it before. He’ll do it for the next several months. He’ll do it in the election if he’s allowed to. This is why if you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed. Because right matters. Because right matters and the truth matters. Otherwise, we are lost.

The days have daggers

art by Phyllis Emmert



Here's a chilling poem by Christian Wiman:

All my friends are finding new beliefs

All my friends are finding new beliefs.

This one converts to Catholicism and this one to trees.

In a highly literary and hitherto religiously-indifferent Jew

God whomps on like a genetic generator.

Paleo, Keto, Zone, South Beach, Bourbon.

Exercise regimens so extreme she merges with machine.

One man marries a woman twenty years younger

and twice in one brunch uses the word verdant;

another’s brick-fisted belligerence gentles

into dementia, and one, after a decade of finical feints and teases

like a sandpiper at the edge of the sea,

decides to die.

Priesthoods and beasthoods, sombers and glees,

high-styled renunciations and avocations of dirt,

sobrieties, satieties, pilgrimages to the very bowels of  being ...

All my friends are finding new beliefs

and I am finding it harder and harder to keep track

of the new gods and the new loves,

and the old gods and the old loves,

and the days have daggers, and the mirrors motives,

and the planet’s turning faster and faster in the blackness,

and my nights, and my doubts, and my friends,

my beautiful, credible friends.

Source: Poetry (January 2020)

A Winter Bluejay

photo by Robin Allen


Today is the anniversary of the death of the poet Sara Teasdale.  Here is one of her bird poems:

A Winter Bluejay
Sara Teasdale

CRISPLY the bright snow whispered,
Crunching beneath our feet;
Behind us as we walked along the parkway,
Our shadows danced,
Fantastic shapes in vivid blue.
Across the lake the skaters
Flew to and fro,
With sharp turns weaving
A frail invisible net.
In ecstasy the earth
Drank the silver sunlight;
In ecstasy the skaters
Drank the wine of speed;
In ecstasy we laughed
Drinking the wine of love.
Had not the music of our joy
Sounded its highest note?
But no,
For suddenly, with lifted eyes you said,
“Oh look!”
There, on the black bough of a snow flecked maple,
Fearless and gay as our love,
A bluejay cocked his crest!
Oh who can tell the range of joy
Or set the bounds of beauty?

photo    Jim Ridley

More January poems

Art  by Amanda Clark

Winter Song

"Rain and wind, and wind and rain.
Will the Summer come again?
Rain on houses, on the street,
Wetting all the people's feet,
Though they run with might and main.
Rain and wind, and wind and rain.

Snow and sleet, and sleet and snow.
Will the Winter never go?
What do beggar children do
With no fire to cuddle to,
Perhaps with nowhere warm to go?
Snow and sleet, and sleet and snow.

Hail and ice, and ice and hail,
Water frozen in the pail.
See the robins, brown and red,
They are waiting to be fed.
Poor dears, battling in the gale!
Hail and ice, and ice and hail."

- Katherine Mansfield, Winter Song

Nicholas Hely Hutchinson      Garden in Winter



The Garden In Winter

Frosty-white and cold it lies
Underneath the fretful skies;
Snowflakes flutter where the red
Banners of the poppies spread,
And the drifts are wide and deep
Where the lilies fell asleep.

But the sunsets o'er it throw
Flame-like splendor, lucent glow,
And the moonshine makes it gleam
Like a wonderland of dream,
And the sharp winds all the day
Pipe and whistle shrilly gay.

Safe beneath the snowdrifts lie
Rainbow buds of by-and-by;
In the long, sweet days of spring
Music of bluebells shall ring,
And its faintly golden cup
Many a primrose will hold up.

Though the winds are keen and chill
Roses' hearts are beating still,
And the garden tranquilly
Dreams of happy hours to be­
In the summer days of blue
All its dreamings will come true.

Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Jemma Jameson        End of a Winters Day

The End Of A Winters Day.

"The leaves drift toward the earth like ships to land,
A voyage launched from timbers' great lofty berths,
Toward harbors safe, concealed from raider bands,
Of icy galleons coursing wintry dearth.
Squirrels don thick coats against Wind's numbing dare,
Mount last determined searches 'long the ground.
Brown grass conceals the season's paltry fare,
As hopeful birds scratch for what may be found.
Through frosted windows glow the hearth's warm light,
As fading day casts shadows 'cross the lawn,
And grey meets grey as winter gathers might,
Undaunted as the chimney starts to yawn.
Farewell brave day as twilight draweth nigh.
Perchance on morrow sun will gather high."

By Dan Young.

.

Two poems for January

"It's not the case, though some might wish it so
Who from a window watch the blizzard blow

White riot through their branches vague and stark,
That they keep snug beneath their pelted bark.

They take affliction in until it jells
To crystal ice between their frozen cells ..."

-  Richard Wilbur, Orchard Trees - January 

"O thou whose face hath felt the Winter's wind,
       Whose eye has seen the snow-clouds hung in mist
       And the black elm tops 'mong the freezing stars
        To thee the spring will be harvest-time.
O thou, whose only book has been the light
       Of supreme darkness which thou feedest on
       Night after night when Phœbus was away,
       To thee the Spring shall be a triple morn.
O fret not after knowledge - I have none,
       And yet my song comes native with the warmth.
O fret not after knowledge - I have none,
       And yet the Evening listens. He who saddens
At thought of idleness cannot be idle,
And he's awake who thinks himself asleep."

-  John Keats, O Thou Whose Face Hath Felt the Winter's Wind  

Things are not good

Australia is burning up.

and Trump gave some orders that bring the United States to the brink of war with Iran.

some are asking :  why now?  why not last week?  why not next week?

this political cartoon cuts too close to the bone:

On January

but it's not like this in our area ; at least, not yet.


Dylan Thomas wrote this about January:

"In the sniffed and poured snow on the tip of the tongue of the year
That clouts the spittle like bubbles with broken rooms,
An enamoured man alone by the twigs of his eyes, two fires,
Camped in the drug-white shower of nerves and food,
Savours the lick of the times through a deadly wood of hair
In a wind that plucked a goose,
Nor ever, as the wild tongue breaks its tombs,
Rounds to look at the red, wagged root."

-  Dylan Thomas, January, 1939

Meanwhile, our world is in a bad way. Australia is burning up.

Trump is fixing for war with Iran.

I do not want to think about what happens next.

All the President's Men, Revisited

Dear God, how young they were!  How young I was when this movie came out!

I actually purchased it on itunes and have watched it probably five times.  It's one of my favorite films.  Now when I watc.h it, I watch the facial expressions as well as the dialogue.  I also watch the "period clothing and hair".  It's interesting how men's shirts and ties and pants look the same to me now ( probably there are differences, but I can't see them).  But the women are so different.  The hairstyles for both genders are very different.   And the technology, or lack of it!   The reporters still use typewriters and there is one TV in the newsroom.  And most amazing,  the absence of cell phones. The reporters stop to use pay phones along their way!   And yet, what they accomplished that reporters cannot accomplish today.  Today the news is so widespread and so twisted by the political stance of the news reporters that people aren't sure what the truth is. I blame this on Trump and Fox News,  but other people blame it on MSNBC and the liberal newspapers.  Who is right?

Compared to today, those were innocent times.

For the Anniversary of My Death

Here's another poem from W.S. Merwin  that haunts me:

FOR THE ANNIVERSARY OF MY DEATH

Every year without knowing it I have passed the day
When the last fires will wave to me
And the silence will set out
Tireless traveler
Like the beam of a lightless star

Then I will no longer
Find myself in life as in a strange garment
Surprised at the earth
And the love of one woman
And the shamelessness of men
As today writing after three days of rain
Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease
And bowing not knowing to what

– W.S. Merwin,“For the Anniversary of My Death” from The Second Four Books of Poems (Copper Canyon Press, 1993). Copyright © 1993 by W. S. Merwin. Reprinted with the permission of The Wylie Agency, Inc.

Happy New Year 2020

No one ever regarded the First of January with indifference.  It is that from which all date their time, and count upon what is left.  It is the nativity of our common Adam." 
-  Charles Lamb   

Here's a poem by one of my favorite poets, W.S. Merwin:

To the New Year

With what stillness at last

you appear in the valley

your first sunlight reaching down

to touch the tips of a few

high leaves that do not stir

as though they had not noticed

and did not know you at all

then the voice of a dove calls

from far away in itself

to the hush of the morning

so this is the sound of you

here and now whether or not

anyone hears it this is

where we have come with our age

our knowledge such as it is

and our hopes such as they are

invisible before us

untouched and still possible

W. S. Merwin, “To the New Year” from Present Company (Port Townsend, Washington: Copper Canyon Press, 2005). Copyright © 2005 by W. S. Merwin. Reprinted with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, www.coppercanyonpress.org.

New Year's Eve

I know my college classmates don't look this old, but I still like this picture.

Time is on my mind today,  and memories, and these songs from my youth, when we didn't even know what "old" was:

The good times we had

Times have changed
All the good times that we had are gone now;
Passed this way
Only mem'ries will remain, tomorrow

I thought my dreams would be enough for a while
And all the plans that we made
Hey, we had love, that was all that we had;
Even that don't seem the same

Peace of mind
Where's the happiness we should be havin'?
We can't find any answers in the good times we had

I thought my dreams would be enough for a while
And all the plans that we made
Hey, we had love, that was all that we had;
Even that don't seem the same

Peace of mind
Where's the happiness we should be havin'?
We can't find any answers in the good times we had

These friends of mine, we shared some good times together
days of sunshine....days of rain.

Many jobs and many towns we worked and never
Cared if we saw the same towns again.

Then one day we weren't as young as before
Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo.

But by all those road we traveled down,
I'm a better man for just the known of you.

These friends of mine we never cared about tomorrow
It was too early in the game.

We'd stay a while unil the day we'd get to wondering
If the far side of the hill looked the same.

And they's settle down somewhere along the way
Yes and somewhere just like some men do

But by all those roads my friend we've traveled down
I'm a better man for just the knowin of you.

(Tom Russell)

Those Were The Days

(Mary Hopkin)

Once upon a time there was a tavern

Where we used to raise a glass or two

Remember how we laughed away the hours

And think of all the great things we would do

Those were the days my friend

We thought they'd never end

We'd sing and dance forever and a day

We'd live the life we choose

We'd fight and never lose

For we were young and sure to have our way

La la la la la la

La la la la la la

La la la la La la la la la la

Then the busy years went rushing by us

We lost our starry notions on the way

If by chance I'd see you in the tavern

We'd smile at one another and we'd say

Those were the days my friend

We thought they'd never end

We'd sing and dance forever and a day

We'd live the life we choose

We'd fight and never lose

Those were the days, oh yes those were the days.

Time it was and what a time it was

A time of innocence

A time of confidences

Long ago it must be, I have a photograph

Preserve your memories

They’re all that’s left you.     (Paul Simon)

Books I Read in 2019

Not all of them, but the ones that come to mind as I write this:

Lincoln in the Bardo   by George Saunders

Educated   by Tara Westover

An Education  by Michelle Obama

Beloved     by Toni Morrison

The Friend    by Sigrid Nunez

The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis

The Dark is Rising   by Susan Cooper

Stephen King's trilogy:
Mr. Mercedes
Finders Keepers
End of Watch




Kingdom of the Blind   by Louise Penny

Two from Ruth Rendell:
Kissing the Gunner's Daughter
Not in the Flesh

from Lawrence Block:
A Walk Among the Tombstones

from Peter Grainger:
Luck and Judgment
An Accidental Death

The Graveyard Book   by Neil Gaiman

Dracula   by Bram Stoker


I re-read the Millennium series and then read the three new ones by David Lagercrantz
The Girl in the Spider's Web
The Girl Who Lived Twice
The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye

And, of course, re-read the books for my Modernity class, especially:
Slaughterhouse Five
Persepolis


I also re-read , each month, the relevant chapter in The Echoing Green  by Jennifer Heath.


I know I read more books than these.  One of my New Years Resolutions is to record the titles of the books I read in 2020 as I read them.

I also read many many articles on politics: the evil saga of Donald Trump, and a fair amount of the Mueller Report

There's definitely an attraction to the bloodthirsty in my reading life.

The Complexities of Christmas

Christmas in Norway   

This song by Joni Mitchell and James Taylor haunts me:

It's coming on Christmas,
They're cutting down trees.
Putting up reindeer
Singing songs of joy and peace,
Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

But it don't snow here,
Stays pretty green.
I'm gonna make a lot of money
Gonna quit this crazy scene.
Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

I wish I had a river so long,
I would teach my feet to fly.
Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on.
I made my baby cry.

She tried hard to help me,
She put me at ease.
She loved me so naughty,
made me weak in the knees.
Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

I'm so hard to handle,
I'm selfish and I'm sad.
Now I've gone and lost the best baby
That I've ever had.
Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on...

I'm copying and pasting a column by Cynthia Kiteley Lee which I found interesting and thought-provoking...

The Complexities of Christmas   
 Cynthia's Column
by Cynthia Kiteley Lee, Founder and Administrator 
Mystical Order of the White Rose

Joy (to the world) and Peace (on earth goodwill to all) are central themes of Christmas.  They are wonderful ideals and energies that some of us carry like warm coals close to our hearts in the cold days of December. 

The words peace and joy appear over and over again on Christmas cards, in Christmas carols, and are spelled out in the Christmas lights that, along with many other Christmas light decorations, brighten our longest nights of the year and enchant us with their brightness and beauty. 

And yet, Christmas can be very complicated, challenging, and far from peaceful and joyful for many of us who celebrate it, as well as for many who don't celebrate it, but who are strongly affected by the pervasive and unavoidably extreme cultural focus on Christmas and its many traditions and expressions during most of the weeks of December.

There is great and ever increasing diversity in our nation and in the religious and spiritual affiliations and celebrations of its citizens.  December has many Holy Days and celebrations other than Christmas, the best known of which in the United States are: Hanukkah, celebrated by the Jews (eve of December 2 through the eve of December 10); The Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of North America (December 12); Yule, the Pagan/Wiccan celebration of the Winter Solstice (December 21); and the African-American celebration of Kwanzaa, which emphasizes African traditions of unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. (December 26 to January 1).  To view the dozens more December Sacred Days and Days of Remembrance from a dizzying variety of traditions, visit this link for The Mystic's Wheel of the Year--A Multi-faith Calendar Reflecting Eco-Egalitarian Spirituality:

http://www.wheeloftheyear.com/2018/1218.htm 

There are also many people who are atheists or agnostics without any spiritual or religious conceptual framework or affiliation, who may or may not choose to embrace some of the Christmas celebration traditions in an essentially secular way.  Honoring and embracing diversity calls upon us to be sensitive and tactful.   As mystics, contemplatives, and monastics we are able to help create and maintain peace on earth and extend good will to all,  regardless of our or their spiritual and religious affiliations (or lack thereof).  I assure you that our spiritual and religious affiliations are extremely diverse, and often include a relationship with more than one spiritual or religious tradition.

The Economics of Christmas

There is an extreme retail sales focus on Christmas, especially in the United States, where we have long been considered to be a country and people consumed by consumerism.  The definition of consumerism is: "the theory that an increas-ing consumption of goods is economically desirable; also: a preoccupation with and an inclination toward the buying of consumer goods.[1]"

The intense emphasis on Christmas-related shopping and purchases has created a backlash or "push back" from many Americans who feel that Christmas has become tainted and corrupted by its heavily promoted consumer frenzy aspects.  Those who feel this way often choose to limit or altogether withdraw from the celebration of Christmas. 

Christmas is typically the largest annual economic stimulus for many nations around the world.  In the United States:  "The holiday season is just around the corner and it’s truly the best time of the year for both consumers and retailers of all shapes and sizes. Since the recession in 2008, Christmas holiday retail sales in the United States have grown steadily.  In 2018, Christmas retail sales were forecast to grow to about 719.17 billion U.S. dollars; a 4.55 percent increase from the previous year. The amount of money that U.S. consumers plan to spend on gifts has also increased. [2]  Christmas is also a boon for people wanting employment, as hundreds of thousands of seasonal sales clerks are hired to help handle the sharp spike in sales.

The Not So Merry Aspects of Christmas

There are many stressful and challenging aspects of the Christmas season, even though the usual activities and traditions of the season are deeply cherished and enjoyed by many of the people engaging in them, while others (grinches?) consider them just one more energy and/or money-draining obligation on a too long to-do list. 

Many of these Christmas season stresses are related to the complex logistical, time, task, and financial management aspects of the approximately month-long Christmas season (typically from Thanksgiving Day in late November through Christmas day in the United States).  These can include: erecting and decorating one or more Christmas trees; mailing Christmas cards and parcels of presents; shopping for and wrapping presents; attending Christmas parties; going to Christmas community events (parades, Christmas light tours, fairs, taking children to visit "Santa Claus" at the mall); attending Christmas-themed cultural events (concerts, plays, movies); decorating for Christmas, which can be simple or elaborate, depending on personal proclivities; and oftentimes hosting and cooking for Christmas eve or Christmas day family and/or friends gatherings, and accommodating out of town overnight family and friends.

Just thinking and writing about all these activities makes me feel a bit tired; actually undertaking and completing them can be exhausting.  Drinking alcohol-laden eggnog, punches, and wines and liquors; and consuming sugar and carb-heavy Christmas cookies, pies, cakes, and other delicious foods at Christmas parties; combined with some late nights of partying--while they can all be wonderfully enjoyable--tend to upset our physical form and its processes, and take awhile to recover from.  

There is also Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a mood disorder subset in which people who have normal levels of mental health most of the year exhibit depressive symptoms at the same time each year, most commonly in the winter.  Common symptoms include:  sleeping too much, having little to no energy, and overeating (Wikipedia). The primary cause of this disorder is believed to be related to the reduced amount of daylight in the autumn and winter months.  Light therapy is available to help to reduce the negative impacts of this disorder.

 Other stresses of the season have to do with the complexities of the human heart and psyche, and the sweet--and sometimes not so sweet--memories we have of  celebrating Christmases in the past with family and friends who have died, chosen to end their relationship with us (or vice versa), or who live far away. 

The human heart and psyche are deep and rich and multi-layered, harboring enormous depths of abounding love and forgiveness, and deep, even soul deep, woundings by family and loved ones.

Negative thoughts and intense negative feelings about our past and present close relationships--or the lack thereof--are often triggered by Christmas-related activities during the weeks leading up to it, causing painful periods of grief, depression, and negative reflections about ourself and/or others, and our lives.  

I have a friend whose wife died this November.  They were happily married for 47 years, and spent the last 47 Christmas season celebrations together, so this holiday season has been and will continue to be painful for him, despite the loving support of stepchildren, step-grandchildren, and old friends.  The 24-year-old son of a woman I know died suddenly earlier this year; this will be her first Christmas without him.  She too has supportive friends and other family members, but this traumatic loss is likely to haunt her holiday celebrations. 

My husband Richard's son, who is now 22-years-old and in college, chose to end all interactions with his dad more than four years ago. Prior to this they would see each other two or three times a year for a meal in a restaurant that usually took place with his sister and were not made known to their mother, who divorced Richard about 10 years ago.  Richard was a passionately engaged and stable, loving father to his son and daughter (24-years-old) who relocated with their mother to another town in Mississippi when his son was 12 and his daughter 14.  Even though there were legal child custody rulings that gave Richard generous visitation privileges, his ex-wife (who had/has some mental health issues and was physically and verbally abusive to Richard and her daughter) did not comply with them and pressured her son to not be at home whenever his father arrived for a scheduled visit. Richard's daughter chose to maintain a very loving relationship with her father, but after physical and verbal abuse from her mother for doing so when she was a teenager in high school, she chose to keep her visits to and interactions with him secret. The passage of time has many healing properties, but some wounds don't heal quickly or completely.

A priest in a church I attended years ago often told members of the congregation to "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle," a quote from Ian MacLaren.  Whether we are fighting internal battles or struggling with painful memories, thoughts, and feelings ourselves--or not--during this Christmas season, as agents of love and grace, empathy and compassion, we can give ourselves and others the gifts of unconditional love; nurturing our and others' bodies, minds and spirits; extending kindness; affection (including giving and receiving touch and hugs); offering intercessory prayers; and compassion. 

The Joys of Christmas and Other December Holy Days

The particulars of our December winter sacred celebrations vary widely, but the common threads that join us in the family of humanity are: love of family, reverence and respect for our family's religious and cultural traditions and beliefs, joy in family gatherings and celebrations, joy in experiencing  the songs, chants, music, and rituals associated with the celebrations, and pleasure in the consumption of special holy day/holiday foods and drinks.  In the northern hemisphere we also rejoice in the return of the light; the shift in solar energies that causes the days to grow gradually longer, and the nights shorter.  This shift begins after the Winter Solstice (December 21).

As for peace, we may be able to experience it personally, but millennia of human experience make it clear that our world is not (yet) a peaceful one in terms of the absence of external conflict, war, hatred, and violence. Inner peace is a gift to ourselves, others, and the world we live in, and is a powerful energy that radiates outward in subtle yet profoundly positive ways through spiritually-grounded individuals, groups, and communities. 

Fortunately, the universal spiritual practices of meditation, prayer, reflection, and contemplative and compassionate living support us in connecting with deep and nourishing levels of joy and peace, and maintaining them in the midst of life's many challenges and complexities.

Christmas at Hogwarts