Christmas Spirit

If I'm not in the Christmas Spirit this year, it is because too much is amiss for it to truly feel like Christmas. I am deeply impacted by my mother not being home yet, but that isn't the only thing wrong.

2015 is the year that I decided to be honest with myself and with the people in my life. So I'm going to say right now that if this is too honest for you, I apologize for making you feel bad, but not for actually saying it.

Most of the people in this country, including a lot of people on my friends list, have lost the true meaning of this holiday. If you celebrate Christmas tomorrow stuffing your face while railing against helping the poor or refugees, you are a hypocrite. If you open presents tomorrow, while supporting politicians that keep cutting veteran's benefits, you are a hypocrite. If you talk about love and peace this holiday season and then embrace a man like Donald Trump, you are a hypocrite. If you get offended because someone says Happy Holidays and you think your Christian majority gives you the right to hear Merry Christmas on demand, you are a hypocrite.

As someone who was raised Catholic and who, while not fully believing in the church and all of man's interpretations, still embraces the Lord. I am shocked and ashamed this holiday season at what I see on the news, and even more so, by what I see on my news feed! What would Jesus do is not just a cool bumper sticker slogan, if you are Christian it should be your way of thinking. Did Jesus say to help those in need, only when they are in the same geopolitical state as you? When Jesus fed the hungry, did he create a welfare state?

I was talking with a person whose excuse for not practicing WWJD was that he gave to charity already this year, implying that he is free from obligation the rest of the year.
 
I am not a socialist or a communist, I am not saying that you or I can't have any luxuries or spend money on enjoyment. However, look at what you say your priorities are (education for your children, military/vet benefits, homelessness) and then look at where you put your time and money, do they line up? Look at the values you espouse of peace, love and good will, then look at how you act and the positions you take, do they line up?

America is great because of it's rugged individualism, but perhaps we need that with just a small infusion of Asian culture of obligation to greater society.

I left the private sector for the public sector, in part because I had serious moral quandaries about the actions I was taking in order to drive simple profit for the already super rich. I am not perfect in how I live either, but I at-least see that and have tried to make a change.

Please take today and maybe tomorrow to look at yourselves closely, are you really in the holiday spirit? do you really grasp what this day is about? How will you change yourself to better follow the message of the man whose birth you are celebrating.