The pillars of the season...

By Vichara

Here we are again folks at the “thankful” part of the year. As the sands of the year trickle out in anticipation of the new one we reach those two pillars that stand as the gate to a supposed new start. Thanksgiving, the first pillar, is apparently to mark the anniversary of the first settlers sitting down with the natives of this land (U.S.A) and giving thanks that in the act of unity and kindness they had enough food supplies to make it through the harsh winter season. Yes kids before Wal-Mart and the somewhat endless supplies of Mac and cheese and ding-dongs. But over the decades the Rockwellian scene of families coming together has morphed for some into football, food and falling down. The second pillar of the season for the majority of Christians and others is Christmas. The one day in the year that there is a free-for-all in giving gifts to each other that marks the birth of a baby named Jesus, who would later become a great teacher of peace and be considered by Christians to be the son of god, with a capitol “G”. As the years have gone by this calendar date has been warped from the goodwill towards all, peace to your brothers and sisters to a competition of the number and magnitude of gifts that we can stuff under an evergreen tree that has bee sacrificed to be used as an interior decorating piece anointed with shredded silver paper, lights and an impaled angel. Why are we compelled by this commercialism of these calendar dates? Have we drifted too far away from the original intent of these dates in order to not suffer from guilt and peer pressure? We can shrug, say whatever and just follow along like everyone else or start little by little to bring back moments of the original intent. The intent of communion with others is to learn from each other, encourage each other and help each other. And with this communion of supportive dialogue we give each other something far more valuable than any gift. We give each other love and respect.