Saving what we love...

·

“Would you like to write my Christmas column for me?”

My wife glanced my way. We’ve been together since 1973, so she’s fully aware that just because I say something stupid doesn’t mean I don’t mean it.

“What would I write?” she asked.

“You could start with, ‘I don’t need a Christmas present, because all my dreams came true the day I met the man who would one day become my husband.’ You could start with that.”

“If I’m going to write it, why are you telling me what to say?”

“Just giving you a rolling start, babe.”

She didn’t say no, but she didn’t say yes, either.

Actually, I should be able to do it myself, thanks to Star Wars.

I haven’t seen the new Star Wars movie yet, but I read a quote from it that I thought was swell.

“That’s how we’re gonna win,” a character says, “not fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.”

To me, that’s what Christmas is about.

Well, that’s not entirely true. Christmas is about a baby. It’s about a baby, hope, sacrifice, family and a chance at redemption. But love is what matters.

None of those things are exemplified by expresso machines on sale for $1,400.00 or ugly sweaters or drunken Christmas parties. But I don’t want to be that guy, whining about the lost meaning of Christmas. Because it’s not lost, it’s still out there.

I have to admit that I’ve reached this point in the column about twenty times. I can’t begin to tell you the number of things I’ve written and then deleted. My problem is that I want to end up with an uplifting Christmas column, but I’m finding it a little difficult. I see anger, hate, resentment, all around me. I think this is one of those times where the regular people, the anonymous and seemingly unimportant, are so much…better…than the people in the headlines. They don’t really represent this country anymore and that’s a pity, because they’re the ones we hear about.

For example, today I was commiserating with a friend over some business difficulties he was having. He said, “Well, sometimes you come out of the house in the morning and you have a flat tire.” And there it is - the rest of your day depends on how you react to it. Most of the people I know dig out the spare and get to work.

That gets us back to the Star Wars quote. We need to save what we love. It’s so easy to be angry, so easy to fume with resentment about hard times and disagreeable people. That’s a mistake, and it’s particularly a mistake at Christmas. You can hate the Hallmark channel, eggnog, lutefisk, or politicians. None of that matters.

What matters is the people you love. One of my sisters called today, and we talked about her triumph in assembling an IKEA file cabinet AND setting up a new Wi-Fi system. My other sister and her family will be here for Christmas. Our kids and grandkids will make an appearance, as will my parents. There won’t be a lot of presents under the tree, but there’ll be enough. There’ll be food and laughter, and sometime during the day there will be some thought about a baby. A baby, hope, sacrifice, family, and a chance of redemption.

And love.

That’s something worth fighting for.

I guess I didn’t need my wife to write my column for me after all. I need her for everything else, though.

But that’s a story for another day.

Copyright 2017 Brent Olson