12/27/2025
Greetings!
I wrote something that I thought about sharing with everyone this holiday season. I always value looking beneath the surface and thinking of how I view things. I wrote this about Christmas so wanted to share with everyone.
Hope you have a joy filled holiday season. Christmas in here is just another day where they feed us a bit better. Though I am trying to think of it more about the sacrifices made for and by oneself. Sacrifices that allow new beginnings. Be it from a perspective of faith and/or personal. As a father, I am rethinking how I view things. I want my son to see it as more than material items. Sure, a gift is great. Though what went into obtaining that gift? It cost money to buy. A person had to sacrifice energy, time, and other freedoms to acquire the funds needed to purchase it. The thought and intent behind it matter as well. Plus learn about the history of the holiday and symbols of it. Like tree, wreaths, and etc. The faith based concepts. This way can see it as what it was, is, and should be. A full understanding can provide for a deeper appreciation. We often look at the end result, not the journey taken. A gift is the end result. Though its journey started long before its receiving. I want my son to grow up appreciating the value of a dollar. Not just what it can obtain but what it takes to develop its worth and action needed to gain possession of it. That it's a tool. With any tool, it can be used for construction or destruction.
With the modern celebration of holidays. There will always be those seeking to alter and amend them. Corporations for profit, some professor in some college some where creating some new way to criticize it, others hoping to create new trends. The more something is repeated, the less likely people are to question what's said. We then devalue what was. Instead of looking for ways to disprove or criticise. See the good. At bare minimum Christmas is representative of the beginning of new life. Life born or life breathed into the relationships we create. The sacrifices made and the value of people in our life. Even an atheist who 100% thinks it's all made up stories. Such could still see value, at least, in the symbolic representation of the holiday.
Disagreement does not always have to be opposition. There is middle ground. The more people see the world in such a way. The less division will maintain its stranglehold on culture.
Calling it Christmas is simply celebrating a day that is specified as a holiday. One that became a tradition. There was no evil in its creation. Celebrating it doesn't decrease nor increase one's faith. Nor does it bind you to religion. One person can see it as a literal representation of their faith, another can see it as metaphorical. The intended good of the holidays can thus be equally shared.
We rush through life all year, exposed to conflicts, and focused on superficial pursuits. Surely we can take a day to collectively reset and think about the greatest example of a life created and sacrificed for others? A noble concept often absent in present day culture. Consider the life around us and how we can better sacrifice and display our love for others. Start the next year better than the previous one.
Or we can just keep on as humanity has been.
Merry Christmas to all.
With love, guiding, and illuminating life,
Clinton
“start somewhere"
