It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

For Embracing Change and Leading More Meaningful Lives

I have fond memories of Christmas in my early years. The holidays meant traveling to see people I loved and missed because we lived hours away from our extended family. It meant my father packing the car beyond capacity and long drives on dark, cold winter nights in the Midwest. I remember passing through towns and peering into the twinkling lighted windows of strangers, wondering who they were and what their lives were like. I remember my barely contained excitement, the anticipation of arriving at my grandparents sweet, tiny, cape cod home. Having lived through both world wars and the Great Depression, it was the only house they ever owned, bought later in life when they could finally afford one, built with love and craftsmanship by the old man next door, Mr. Rhodes. Growing up in a family that moved often it was my rock, a place that never changed, a place that grounded me.

My grandmother always baked up a storm. The house was filled with the smell of a dozen kind of cookies and four kinds of fudge. The stone fireplace blazed and the next night my sister, cousins and I would get a personal visit from Santa, arranged by my grandfather who was ironically, Jewish. He loved the giving aspect of Christmas and the madness of finding my grandmother’s gift at the last minute, the crowds and the energy. As a tiny boy his family fled Russia with just the clothes on their backs during the 1917 Russian Revolution. He cherished America, for the opportunity it gave him to provide for and give to others.

He was not the only Jewish influence on our Christmases. We celebrated Hanukah as well with my aunt and uncle. I’m certain my tendency towards high cholesterol to this day can be blamed on Uncle Bill’s latkes, fried Jewish potato pancakes to die for, that may just kill me yet.

My parents are also self-made people. My father came from even more challenging circumstances than my mother’s. Both of his parents worked to make ends meet and feed a family with five children. His father worked tough, menial jobs as a mechanic and there was a time when they couldn’t afford a car so they made do with a Harley motorcycle and side car even through freezing Indiana winters. My mother worked to help my father get through college and many weeks he subsisted on a bag of oranges and a few hot dogs. Being a toddler at the time, I got the good food.

Of course I had no clue of this then. What I knew on those long drives, bickering in the backseat with my sister and driving my parents insane, was that soon I would be in a place where I was surrounded by love and generosity.

It’s a natural human tendency to give your children the things you couldn’t have as a child as an expression of love. On Christmas Eve what seemed like hundreds of glittering packages magically appeared under the tree, overwhelming my grandparent’s tiny living room. I gorged on cookies and fudge and sleep that night was nearly impossible.

We are living through tough times right now, but certainly no tougher than what older generations have overcome. Yes, two years of pandemic have been hard, but certainly no harder than two world wars or the Great Depression. It’s not a time for blame and finger pointing. It’s a time for understanding how we arrived here and how we can go forward in a better way. I’m not going to lie. It’s already been difficult and likely to get harder. The good news is, if we embrace the challenges facing us we can create more meaningful, connected lives.

The American Dream is a beautiful one. It has promised equality and freedom that have rarely been offered in a world largely governed historically and today by hard fisted oppression. Human history is one written by violence and conquest against each other and assault on the natural world. Covid and global warming are stark warnings that we must change how we treat the planet and each other. In these crises we face live opportunity, if we have the courage to embrace change.

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus, is credited with the famous quote, “Change is the only constant in life.” We all feel change individually as we travel from youth to old age, but because our lives are so short we don’t see or feel changes happening to our 4.5 billion year old earth. Change for the earth takes hundreds of millions of years and is defined in science as epochs measured by huge changes to the earth’s climate that can be found in the composition of rocks. Human kind has been here for a mere 6000 years in climate conditions perfect for us, the Holocene epoch, a period of warming on the planet. The Holocene marked the retreat of the ice age and glaciers of the Pleistocene and started about 11,700 year ago. The Pleistocene spanned two and a half million years. Human beings and the creatures that live with us have all been the fortunate beneficiaries of this warm and so far brief period.

The problem we have of global warming can be solved. It’s a result of industrialization and carbon trapped in the atmosphere. It’s of our own creation. Covid and preceding pandemics in our lifetime are also a result of industrialization and destruction of nature. Aids was a disease that jumped from monkeys to humans because we encroached into their environment. Swine flu jumped from pigs to humans as a result of industrialized agriculture. Covid origins are still being investigated, but highly likely attributable to one of these scenarios.

Change is here. All of our lives are shaken. In the short time we harnessed fossil fuels we have changed the composition of the atmosphere in ways that would have taken millions of years through the slow processes of the planet. Each of us individually need to make a difference. We need to think bigger and live smaller. There will be suffering and tragedy as storms intensify, coastlines are submerged and drought causes incomprehensible wild fires. There is so much carbon in the atmosphere that the warming will continue rising for decades. There will be ever increasing climate refugees, not just crowding on the Mexican border, but in our own country. The basics will be disrupted, like agriculture and the bounty of food we take for granted. The economy will also be profoundly disrupted. We will pay a price, some more than others for living beyond our means. It is critical we get back to the basics our grandparents understood, by taking only what we need, giving to each other and realizing our very survival as a species depends on it. Capitalism is destroying our world and our souls. Capitalism and consumption is not freedom. It’s division and enslavement. We can choose otherwise.

Parties don’t matter. We are people, all one and the same. We must recognize that our political system isn’t getting it done. We must be wary and educate our neighbors of the dangerous conditions surrounding us. These are conditions that will cause great social unrest and are already providing a path for liars and fascism. Anyone who promises easy solutions and lays blame for our problems at one group’s feet should be rejected. It took the entire course of human history, all of us, to arrive at this moment.

We have been played. We live in a finite world, but taught to treat it as if it’s endless. Our instinct for security has been exploited by advertising and a handful of obscenely wealthy people that take endlessly. The toys and trinkets they offer become ever more vacuous and simply a means of enrichment. They are robbing our lives of humanity. We have the power to bring them to heel and save ourselves by rejecting unneeded consumption and living simply.

Consumption isn’t what Jesus had in mind as a way to celebrate his birth. I am certain he would be horrified by what Christmas has become. Money and possessions after basic needs are met don’t create happiness. Generosity, doing for others creates happiness. Let’s all use this season to examine our lives and embrace the changes we need to make. Stay safe and healthy and be respectful this holiday season.