On the longest night

Whatever midwinter festival you celebrate, don't make it about greed, or selfishness. This time of year is meant to be about pooling our resources so we can get through the dark and cold months, alive, together. Everything else is just set dressing and hyperbole.

Something I can defintively associate with this time of year, ever since I struck out on my own, is that all the world seems to strive towards obscene excess, leaving so many on the sidelines, outside looking in. This atmosphere counters what is supposed to be going on, if you listen to the songs and stories, essentially highlighting how little most people can afford to give to others, and how little most people can afford to have at all, in the face of orgies of consumerism and public plenty. 

The holidays are only full of joy away from all of that, away from comparing haves and have nots, away from all the implication that those who have and get less should be somehow more grateful than those who have and get more than anyone needs. I think this is especially important right now, with the longest night being more than the literal one, and the cold being much more than weather. Some of us have hungry faces outside our windows and some of us are among them in the dark and the cold. The only way we might survive is by pulling together.

Maybe at the end of it, there will be warm sunlight and hope.