Christmas/Hanukkah ideas -2

Hi again, and this idea is also especially for you young people out there (hey! :-)

It's time to purchase, if you are using traditional mail, which you should in addition to ecards, your Christmas or Hanukkah greeting cards.

This year be sure to purchase or create at least one set of religious theme cards. Resist buying neutral arty or "season" cards alone, no matter how beautiful they are or how cute, or what worthy cause they support. Trust me, I understand and have bought many sets of "happy holidays" or other neutral cards because 1) they are pretty or artistic or support a good cause or 2) in politically correct times I've not wanted to "impose" a religious theme on some recipients.

Young people, these are urgent critical times and we must swing the pendulum back to the side of expressing the faith first and being safe or neutral second.

Here's the problem. Media, marketers, secularists and others with "agenda" have created an atmosphere where many are ashamed and abashed to actually send what would have been the most ordinary of cards (Merry Christmas and Nativity scenes, or a serious Hanukkah card) not that long ago (but seems like another eon). It's a lie to celebrate Christmas and deny the reality that it celebrates, which is the birth of Jesus Christ. If you believe then the time has come that you really have to make what would have been an ordinary action a few decades and now requires some boldness and thought, which is to send a religious theme card among your set of purchases.

It promotes, rather than diminishes, peace and comfort. I can testify that one of my favorite cards to receive each year was a Christmas theme card sent to me by a Muslim friend.

So when you purchase a "snail mail" card, select an ecard, and/or design and create your own cards, please put "the reason for the season" loud and proud in your selection and honor your faith. Don't worry about "offending" anyone; it is far more offensive to not care about genuine spiritual comfort and God based peace in the world.

Part two of this suggestion is to obtain names and addresses of military service men and women and be sure to get them some cards. I believe that a good place to start is finding out who is serving from your community, and/or is based near your community, as that will give them a touch of home. But also find names of those who don't get much mail, I seem to recall there are such sources, at least during the time of the beginning of the Iraq conflict I remember that we could find service people who would like to receive mail, especially if they didn't receive much from home. I personally know how much that means to service people. Also you can send cards to service people in Veterans hospitals and rehab centers. So parcel off a portion of your cards to send to those who just don't receive many cards and greetings and who need to be remembered.

Thanks for your Santa or Hanukkah bush help! ;-)

Memorial Day thoughts

Memorial Day, a national holiday since 1971, celebrated today, is the day when the USA honors its war dead, and has been observed since the Civil War. (Veterans Day, celebrated in the autumn, honors all living veterans).



I'm fortunate that all of my loved ones were veterans, and not lost in war. My father, stepfather, brother in law, and former uncle in law, all served during World War II (except for bro who was in Vietnam) and returned home safely, though both my father and my stepfather were wounded Purple Heart veterans. But of course many of their buddies did not make it home, and I grieve alongside all who grieve their war dead today.

Another thought on the race meditation

When I was growing up in the radical 1960's, there was one aspect of the most radical of the black power views that disturbed and saddened me. This was their lack of respect for the armed forces of America based on their feeling disenfranchised, which they were indeed, due to racism.

So their feeling of alienation from the American armed forces was quite understandable and not what bothered me (though I felt it to be counterproductive at the time, though that too was some of the Vietnam era zeitgeist).

What bothered me is that there is no heritage among Afro-Americans of honoring the Union war dead.

Here are the casualties of Union soldiers who fought to eliminate slavery:


364,511 Dead
281,881 Wounded
646,392 Total


I was always saddened that Afro-Americans did not, to my knowledge, develop a custom of honoring the Union dead, even if they were doing so to make a pointed commentary toward contemporary Armed forces who were discriminatory.

Honestly, if over three hundred thousand people died freeing my ancestors from slavery, I think I'd visit a few graves and lay a few wreaths, if for no other reason than to teach my children the sacrifice that was made for them by people over a hundred years ago AND as a counterpoint to modern day racism and indifference.

If, for example, someone provoked me with displaying the Confederate flag (as a provocative and not a cultural act) I'd go and lay more wreaths and flowers on the Union graves, forgotten and overgrown, in response. I think that, by the way, resonates with Afro-Americans whose own cemeteries have a sad history of neglect and disrespect by white communities. Likewise I often feel that Afro-Americans have forgotten the Union dead.

It's a subject that is near to my heart because, as I said, not only do I find slavery to be abhorrent, but also my father's family had a Civil War veteran reside with them in their family country hotel in the latter years of his life, so it is not a matter of abstract history to me. I like to think that my grandmother cooked him some great meals and that his beer was free.

When there were over six hundred thousand casualties (wounds were no light matter then, as they are not today in Iraq, for example), it is not giving one's children a full and accurate picture to make it like no one cared about slaves "back then." Over six hundred thousand (again, compare that to our Iraq conflict) showed how much they cared by dying or being dreadfully wounded. I'd like to see their memory and sacrifice recalled by more people today, if you know what I mean.