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One of the benefits of aging is the ability to act a little more wisely than we did when we were young. Age is a strange phenomenon isn’t it? When we are young and have all of the energy in the world, we’re at our stupidest. After we get into the winter years, our capacity to leap tall buildings at a single bound has been reduced, hopefully to getting out of the car and carrying the groceries without having to sit down. At this point in time our experience and wisdom is at its peak. Seems somewhat backward doesn’t it?
All of those years gone by to learn how to deal with life and then not being able to use that vast amount of knowledge. What a waste. This being the holiday season and all, I usually take a moment to reflect on what I’ve learned this past year and how it has helped me. We all learned a lot from the election. We learned what we need to do next time and I’ll bet we’ll get it fixed before that time rolls around again, don’t you? We learned that a stock market that can go up can certainly go down. We learned that adding dot com to your company name doesn’t insure instant success. Will these and all of the other lessons that we learned in the past 12 months help us in the future? Sure they will.
We can become better and more educated voters as well as investors. But you know, those things are more attuned to the material side of our short existence here on planet Earth. What have we learned over the years about who we are and how we can relate better to each other? In spite of our differences and our feelings there is one common emotion that we as humans must have if we are to survive as a species on this planet. That emotion is love. While it is true that man cannot live without hope. He also cannot live without love.
We can buy all of the Christmas trees and presents in the world, but without love they are shallow tokens, not fit as gifts to one another. In these stressful days, sometimes the best gift is just a simple…”Good morning” or “How are you” spoken with feeling, not by rote. We as humans have the ability to sense sincerity and honesty. We know when people love us and when they don’t. Hate and anger will destroy a people as surely as bombs and bullets. Hate and anger will destroy us as individuals, perhaps more slowly, but with the same effect. Hurts that we carry, like stones in a sack, build up over the years and become so heavy we are slowed down from their burden.
What good are stones of hated and hurt from years past? These are the very ghosts of years past that will haunt us until our dying days if we allow them to do so. As I said before, as we age, we should become wiser. Ask yourself this question, as I have….”Have I gotten more pleasure by doing kind things for my fellow humans than I have hateful and hurtful things?” The Bible speaks of…”It is better to give than to receive.” Love multiplies, and hatred divides. This is the time of the year that we need to put differences behind us, use that accumulated wisdom we should have been storing, and do something good for each other.
Do yourself a favor, drop that anger stone. Call someone you haven’t spoken to in a long time. Send someone a card that you were mad at. Buy a gift for someone because you think they would like it, not because you expect one in return. Hug someone. You know, I bet there really is a list being kept somewhere of who has been naughty and who has been nice. Think about it. Merry Christmas to all.
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