Hope Springs Eternal

"Just looking at the positive side and not dwelling on the downside. Takes up too much energy being negative."

Betty White, January 2021

Hope springs eternal in the human breast. ~ Alexander Pope

A Carol for Peace

One of my favorite Christmas carols is "Do You Hear What I Hear?" I first heard it as a teenager. While I knew it was a modern addition to the classical favorites of the season, it is only in recent years that I learned it was composed during the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962.

The dramatic historical moment associated with this song may explain my partiality to it. Although I was a child at the time of the missile crisis, I have never since (even today) felt such anxiety about what the future might hold. During the frightening fortnight of that crisis, I had a nightmare about nuclear war that still lives vividly in my memory.

"Do You Hear What I Hear?," with its message of the good news of Christ's birth spreading far and wide, seems to me a hopeful prayer for peace more than a Christmas carol. But it works beautifully as both. Wishing you a Merry Christmas--and peace in 2022.

 

A Fact of Life

In California, we're back in masks as of December 15. This is nothing more than our dictatorial governor grasping onto his Covid-bestowed power as it inevitably fades away. Nobody I know worries about Covid these days. It's old news.

People are mostly compliant with the ridiculous reimposed rule, but there is an entirely different feel to the general attitude of the population. It's like everyone is offering a psychological eye-roll; okay, we'll wear the useless thing for another month or so, but it's an exercise in futility. There's no rigid enforcement of the mandate anywhere that I can see. In the office, the grocery store, and the mall, all is calm, all is bright. 

After nearly two years of pandemic, most people have accepted the fact that Covid is here to stay, much like the common cold and the annual flu. We've got a handle on this now. We know to wash our hands, stay home if we or those we are planning to see are not feeling well, social distance if it makes people comfortable. In short, use our God-given common sense. Beyond that, well, let's deal with it. Covid is a new and permanent fact of life.

Hiding in the house until I die of something else besides Covid is not in my game plan. I heard today that in the Netherlands, people are being warned not to hug their grandchildren on Christmas for fear of spreading Covid. Are the Dutch snuggle police going to come for them if they venture a hug? No wonder Western civilization is collapsing.

Covid may be an inescapable reality, but hugging grandchildren is a more important one. I'll gladly risk the former to enjoy the latter. That's a fact.

A Green Shoot of Hope

When I returned from my Thanksgiving holiday travels, I scheduled a pickup from my usual ride share service. My tall, young, athletic-looking driver was polite and affable, and we exchanged the usual pleasantries on the way out of the airport.

I mentioned how the rise in gasoline prices must be affecting his costs. With that one comment, he launched into an animated description of how much better things were in the country before Biden became president. Since I, too, live in the real world, I could only agree. As he expounded on his theme, the startling truth came out: my driver was an on-fire Donald Trump supporter and had voted for him twice, in both the 2016 and 2020 elections.

Oh, did I mention that this particular driver was African-American? How careless of me. Yes, since race is the priority topic these days, it must somehow be very important that he was Black (although not to me). I'm your basic Caucasian boomer-age grandmother--could you get two more opposite demographic examples? Yet we were in perfect agreement on such topics as the 2020 election, the Covid mandates, the wreck of our economy, the assault on small businesses, and the superiority of Trump's presidency over the slow-rolling catastrophe we are currently mired in. Who would have thought that, in today's divisive climate, two such different ethnic and cultural personalities could agree so completely?

Well, I believe Americans would have thought so. Not the elites in power, not the ruling class that lords it over us, not the legacy media that lies to us daily with smug confidence that we are too stupid to realize the destruction that is deconstructing the United States. Real, everyday, hardworking Americans of all races, religions, backgrounds, and creeds who are living out our national nightmare on a daily basis will not be surprised that minority voters supported Donald Trump. America is the land of e pluribus unum--the many become one. Chance encounters and conversations like the one I enjoyed on the way home after Thanksgiving are what confirm our national unity--our oneness. Despite the constant harangues from our supposed betters about division, we understand that we are all Americans.

The half-hour trip home flew by as I listened, answered, and affirmed the thoughtful pronouncements of my driver. It was an invigorating discussion. The experience was what these days I call a green shoot of hope; it was a reminder that I am not alone in my longing for the unity and greatness of America to return. It was also a reminder that Americans, as a whole, are a strong and good people. As the joyful season of Christmas unfolds, I refuse to believe we will allow the darkness to overcome us.