because this will be another diary where I meditate aloud - or if you prefer, online. I do not celebrate Christmas per se - my wife goes off to her immediate family and spouses and children.
I lack the financial resources to give gifts. But I wish to offer gratitude. So my gifts will be in the form of the words I offer here. Thanks, with explanations.
It may not be Thanksgiving, but this, after all, a holiday with which the words Peace on Earth, Good Will towards Men are associated. And it those two things, Peace, and Good Will, on which I wish to focus.
This will be a personal reflection, you may not agree with the selections I make. They will be my selections.
Feel free to stop reading if that does not interest you.
I am grateful for the (Democratic) Members and Senators who have moved us further towards universal coverage than we have ever been. Empowering and assisting the health of more people is a positive.
I am grateful for the 60th birthday of one of America's great bards, the poet of ordinary people, Bruce Springsteen, whose words and music have kept me in touch with people and a part of America I might otherwise forget
I am grateful for those people who have volunteered to help others, especially those I have encountered in my own volunteering at RAM-MOM health fairs in Wise and Grundy, in the Appalachian portion of Virginia. It may have taken me 7+ hours each way to drive, but I stayed in comfortable surroundings, and seeing people who traveled perhaps just as far and slept in their cars made it more than worthwhile. We are all brothers and sisters (and since I have that duty this forthcoming Sunday, do not be surprised when I revisit this theme).
I am grateful for the students in my classroom, and the parents who entrust me with their education. It is that connection with the future that constantly reminds me of how much we still have to do. And it is the willingness of those students to go beyond comfort zones, to trust, that make me hopeful for real peace.
I am grateful for those willing to risk life and limb on behalf of peace and of others. That of course includes many in the military - I can remember being told by high ranking officers that when the military must engage in combat it is a form of admission of failure. It includes law enforcement officers. It includes peace activists.
I am grateful for all parents and grandparents who give up some of their freedom to nurture and protect and feed and clothe their progeny.
I am grateful for those who open their homes and most of all their hearts to those not biologically related, sometimes traveling great distances to adopt children - yes, that is a reference to our own brillig and her wonderful family - for a child who experiences love and security is an increase of peace and good will beyond measure
I am grateful for those who take the time to learn about and welcome those different from themselves - in politics, in nationality, in race, in sexual orientation, and especially in this day and age in religion. Understanding and acceptance decrease conflict, and decreasing conflict increases peace
I am grateful for a President who cares enough about those who are different and for the world as a whole that even as he must fulfill the Constitutional duties of his office he strives to think more broadly, whose words in his Nobel lecture are a reminder that assuming responsibility does not mean our hearts should narrow, but rather should expand
I am grateful for the musicians and artists and dancers and poets and writers who so often unlock our hearts and our souls by their creativity, who challenge us to places we seem to not to reach merely through intellect. For me this is especially true of musicians, composers and performers, because that is my background and training.
I am grateful for those who rescue animals. My own life is blessed every day with five rescued felines, our children as it were, who teach us each day about love and acceptance. Our lives would be so much poorer had we not encountered them.
I am grateful to those who have who give - often quietly and without notice or publicity - to those who have not, or at least have much less. Thanks for those who see nothing particularly praiseworthy in their quiet charity, assuming it is their responsibility to one another. May that be a model for more.
I am grateful for every person who offers kindness - and not just to me. When I see it offered to others, it reminds me of how important it is, of how it recognizes the commonality with others. With patience for human foibles and kindness to others we avoid the small conflicts that can so easily escalate.
I am grateful to this community, in its willingness to read what I post and to respond. This place has allowed me to work out my thoughts, my beliefs. Of greater importance, in doing that I have learned to open my own heart and soul, in how others share here, and how at our best we accept and encourage one another.
I am grateful to those in my Monthly Meeting, who so often remind me of what real peace is, who work constantly towards that.
And of course, most of all -
I am grateful to Leaves on the Current, my life's partner, with whom next Tuesday I will celebrate our 24th wedding anniversary, who has shared my life since September 21, 1974. 35 of my 63+ years. We challenge each other, giving us each a chance to grow. She is brilliant, but her greatest attribute is not her mind, nor her writing, but rather her heart, her willingness to love animals and small people and even big people like me who have never quite grown up.
I am a Friend by Convincement, a Quaker by choice. I often mention the words of George Fox which guide me, that we should walk gladly across the earth answering that of God in each person we encounter.
When I can, as I have tried here, mention a few of things for which I am grateful, it reminds me of how glad I should be, even as I know there are things still needing change. As one easily prone to depression, finding occasion to thank others keeps me connected, continuing to try to make a positive difference. Gratitude - that should keep me walking gladly, if only I will from time to time, as I have here, stop to reflect on how much there is for me to be grateful, to celebrate.
Answering that of God - for you who this day celebrate the birth of one often called The Prince Of Peace, George Fox was very much a devout Christian. I am not. I concern myself not with issues of God in heaven. But from my days in the Orthodox Church I understand the theology of icons, that in assuming created form Jesus as God redeemed ALL of the created world. One of the hymns for this season in the Orthodox Church addresses Mary, the mother of Jesus, called Theotokos for "god-bearer," offering the words that "All of Creation Rejoices in You, o Full of Grace." In Orthodox understanding, the most immediate icon - image - of Jesus is the human being before you, even if only in one's own reflection in the mirror. It is why we are challenged by the question of how we can claim to love God whom we cannot see when we hate our brother whom we do see.
Call it not "that of God" if you prefer - call it our common humanity, that which is (at least potentially) good. As a teacher I have learned, in part from watching men at Haverford like John Davison and Greg Kannerstein, that when we address that in another human being we are far more likely to see a positive response. I am grateful, because this reminds me that many "mistakes" and hurts are not intentional, and if we can connect with the good intention we may accomplish far more good and move further towards peace than if we act only in punitive and retributive fashions.
I am grateful. I am humbled by the gifts I receive every day - of love, of trust, of caring enough to correct my mistakes. I felt I should offer my thanks.
And my goodwill towards women and men, adults and children, humans and other sentient creatures
And thus it is appropriate for me to end as I usually do. It is my fervent wish, among one another, and of course on Earth as a whole.
Peace.