A holiday wish
photo credit: Anders Ljungberg
I wish there was an event that brought every human on the planet to a pause together. A holiday giving cause for every living being to stand still and witness the silence together. I think that December holidays, be it Christmas, or Hannukah, or Kwanzaa, or the Winter Solstice, bring us close to that moment – I can always feel the potential in these days for momentary unity, and the awesome power that union holds.
Only, we are dispersed…by time zones, by beliefs, by priorities, by stigma, by language and needs and wants and fear. Our hands may reach to family and friends, and in that small group we may find peace and joy, but the larger group, our species as a whole, won’t share that feeling as one.
And so, I ask of each of you this holiday season, whether you are with family, with friends, or alone: stop and think of the lives your presence intersects. Think of the memories of you that reside in them, and how your life adds colour to theirs. And think how they, in turn, bring your presence to the lives they touch, in that six degrees of seperation of which we’ve heard so much. In this time of the year, when so many come together in celebration, think of how far, however diluted, your grasp and influence actually reach. We will, in fact, be joined as one: we need only lift up to see the vast ocean of unity that surrounds us. And in that unity is the power to transcend all of which our seperate lives find insurmountable.
That is my wish. I will continue to wish it, each Christmas time, knowing that regardless of faith, what focus this month brings us all. For me, it is not about the famous birth, or the temple and lantern oil, or the midwinter ritual – it is the intersection of all these events that gives us access to immense potential. A potential to stop and see each other, and finally find room for peace.
Happy Holidays!
