Now,
with my family's tradition of Christmas beginning on Belsnickle (the
eve of St. Nicholas, December 5), I can stop changing the radio
station when a precocious carol is playing. I'll even admit to
watching "Shrek the Halls" this week.
I
dislike the post-Halloween rush into the Christmas season, but now
I'm finally ready to order the Croatian walnut bread, put Heart's "A
Lovemongers' Christmas" on the CD player, and ask Chip to create my
holiday newsletter with a recent photo of me and my grandkids. Chose
the one that I look best in; too bad the twins were making faces at
the camera.
Before I
melt into the golden glow of the season, though, I must do my annual
reminder that the proper phrase is not "Peace on earth, goodwill to
men" but "Peace on earth to men of goodwill." I'm not going to have
a total personality change just because it's Christmas. "Blessed are
they that hunger and thirst after Justice" is my favorite beatitude.
Justice
to me means everyone gets what's coming to him, either soon within
our criminal justice system or eventually in his karma. I don't see
justice as liberal's beloved "social justice," which Wikipedia
defines as the operating principle of "a world which affords
individuals and groups fair treatment and an impartial share of the
benefits of society."
This
definition is under dispute as showing bias and is currently being
debated on Wikipedia. I agree with the dissenters that it usually
shows bias when one side of a debate is called "the political left"
and the other, "the right-wing." It is properly either "political
left" and "political right," or "right-wing" and "left-wing."
My
favorite Jesus statement has always been the exhortation to cast
one's pearls selectively, ignoring those who don't want to get the
message. If I took His words to heart, I couldn't write a column,
since not everyone who reads it is someone with whom I care to
share.
I
figured that most readers were potential friends until I recently
discovered the feature of this newspaper that allows commentary on
line. Whoa! I'm used to editors choosing good letters for the print
edition, or producers screening callers on talk radio. While I knew
that ''they" — the irrational — are out there, I didn't think they
read newspapers; or could read, for that matter, at all.
I've
been enjoying the feature because many commentators make excellent
points, get me thinking and looking up responses to their arguments
on the Internet, or make me laugh at their often off-beat or
sarcastic humor. But there are others whose best composite argument
goes something like this: "Hey, Babs, you haven't even graduated
from college. Your time has passed and so should Prop. 2½. You're
over the hill, you Marxist, Hitler, self-appointed windbag/wingnut,
phony liar Republican. Why don't you get off your perch in
Marblehead where you drink Grey Goose and don't have to smell the
vermin of surrounding cities wafting over and destroying your
utopian existence?"
Actually, I'm not a Republican, though some of my best friends are;
and what is Grey Goose?
My
favorite comment, in response to my Shakespearean phrase "the winter
of our discontent" referring to the coming political climate, is
this non sequitur: "I really feel sorry for you because ... I love
winter and spring and summer and fall in Massachusetts." She also
pointed out that she makes more money than I do. No doubt, since I'm
presently living mostly on Social Security; but does she sit on a
perch and drink the Grey Goose thing?
A
reporter I know told me he never reads the commentaries in his
newspaper: it depresses him to allow nonsense into his
consciousness. But it's fun for those of us who are accustomed to
having political enemies; Chip usually brings his own aggressive
style into the after-column conversation.
I have
enjoyed a lifelong focus only on people I like or would like if I
met them; it's easy to discount the others who try to annoy on a
small scale. Unfortunately, even during the holidays, we can't avoid
knowing about real evildoers — the terrorists running amok in
Mumbai, the genocidal power-mongers in Africa, the drug cartels
shooting kids in Tijuana.
Closer
to home: More kids shot. And what kind of people trample a store
employee on their way to shop for bargains?
And who
are these students in the new study who think it's OK to steal from
a store or a friend, cheat on a test, lie to save money — and then
state that they are satisfied with their ethics? Who would shoot a
golden retriever? Loot an elderly woman's home that was wrecked by
erosion? And that's just this week's news!
The bad
guys have always been with us. It's nice that during the holiday
season newspapers seek out the stories of nice people doing nice
things, to create some "men of goodwill" balance. Good must always
outweigh the bad, or civilization would have collapsed by now. Every
dollar dropped into the Salvation Army kettle helps!
Time to
celebrate Belsnickle, who brings treats to the good children, and
coal to the naughty; and with justice for all.