Coloured lights twinkling in windows up and down the street. Outside along the eaves. Embracing front yard trees. The shopping malls are full. Magic. I’m not so sure what it all means, ultimately. Oh, I know what it is supposed to mean…..the wonder of the season, family and friends, etc. But there is something else……
The other evening I started to watch a movie…..okay, part of a movie, about a house that was carried away by balloons…after the first ten minutes or so, I was so overwhelmed by the little guy’s tragic life I couldn’t watch any more. What the heck was that about?
Meeting with friends at the local Internet café, we chat about new ways of sending seasonal greetings to family and friends. We all hold some kind of electronic device for doing that, so you’d think we’d be in contact with everyone important, wouldn’t you? Well, there’s important, and then there’s important!
As we chat about those important folks, I feel I would be right at home if I were a mathematician, or an economist. We seem to talk mainly about numbers. How many times have ‘they’ called and what does that mean? What kind of ‘phone plan’ do they have, to keep costs low? What has changed with their jobs, and are they earning more than before? How many pounds have they put on since last year? Are their children getting high marks in school? Numbers. Always numbers.
They seldom talk about, “What a unique singing voice!” and “Did you notice how much he likes playing the guitar and how exciting he gets when someone listens?” or “Have you read some of her stuff? How can we encourage her to continue?” or “We went for a walk along the river. I never knew that he is a nature artist.”
I notice a reluctance to get too personal. Just talk about folks in general. Keep the subjects safe. Sure, you could say, “It’s a guy thing to keep things shallow. Guys don’t think deeply.” Okay, let’s accept that for most of the year.
But this is a special time of year. I feel it. They feel it. You can see it in their eyes and sense that there is an ache for something. For what? For someone? It felt like a ‘someone’ for me, and perhaps more of a ‘loss of time for doing something about it’ that I couldn’t quite identify.
It would really matter if we stayed with the feeling, allow it to happen, whatever was rising to the surface.
It’s a good time of year to do that, since no one would question our ‘reasons.’ A lot of emotion being expressed everywhere. So, let it be real. So we would be real. So our families would have permission to be real. And that would be the best gift we could give each other. It would matter.
The best of everything to everyone on the planet! Especially for those who are causing our hearts to rise up into our throats. Especially for them. Let’s be real about that!
Rich