2019 Christ Mass Reflections

                        So, its December 26^th2019. The day after Christmas.  I see it as a day of both reflection and planning. Reflections on the past year and plans for the upcoming new year. I had a great year 2019. Although nine months of it was spent without heat or hot water. I didn’t take a vacation. I worked all of the year. I had a lot of anxiety and my self talk was defeating. But, I got along pretty well with my children. I was able to get my wood stove up and running. I started Graduate school. I got a new job. I ate healthy. I found time for yoga, and I ended the year sitting in one of the finest restaurants in Manhattan, surrounded by my children sister and a good friend. So, I had a great year. Notice, I didn’t say it was an easy year, but is was one of the best years of my life.

                      I don’t mean to sound as if I am offering unsolicited advice or words of encouragement to others who are unable to find a silver lining in their year. Perhaps they don’t have one. Certainly I am always willing to offer help or assistance to someone in crisis, but I do recognize that people might not always want interference in their personal affairs. There have been times when I have read or heard about situations where there is no coming back. Everyone’s life is different. But I do believe that humans are more resilient than even they realize. The universe has a way of tailoring our woes to fit each person’s specific life. When we read about someone like Anthony Bourdain commit suicide in a luxury hotel in Paris we think, How the F*** did that happen? It’s confusing. Yet when we read about a Syrian refugee who lost their family to a bomb in Aleppo, we ask “How does a person come back from that?” . As mentioned, each person’s pain is individualized, it’s important not to judge someone, at least without the full amount of information.

                    Moving on, I often describe myself as being “Secretly Religious”. This affords me to opportunity to pick and choose the rules to which I align. I do enjoy reading the Bible when I have the opportunity. I especially love the Old Testament. Many of the stories are difficult to actually verify as fact, mostly because they are a combination of history and folklore, passed down through generations. I find it particularly interesting that both Christianity and Islam are based in Judaism. Yet the Jews have been persecuted throughout history. Quite often by christians. It is upsetting to me that this happens since I never read anything about Jesus advocating the extermination of Jews and Muslims or anyone , for that matter. So, I am confused as to how humans latch on to these ideas of treating your neighbor like shit and talking smack about others and preaching contempt for other religions. And I am pretty sure that if Jesus were alive today, he would advocate healthcare, education, housing, and food, impartially and would be supportive of ideas like, justice for all.  It is my hope that someday the world learns that we can accomplish more and lead better lives if we all work together. Communication and negotiation between people should not be viewed as “Us” vs. “Them”, It’s just “Us” all of “Us”, no “them”. I hope I made that clear.

                     I love working at the library! I get to see so much. People seem to get confused by that. Imagine if the characters in every book came to life, “real life”, good people, bad people, funny people, happy people and sad people.Next imagine being surrounded by all of these characters. When you stand in a library all of these people are with you. So when you think about it the Library is actually really crowded, 24/7 . I walk into the library all those people in every book are there. Waiting for me to meet them. Will I meet everyone? I don’t know. But I am going to try.

                     Believe it or not there are things in the library just waiting to be discovered. The New York Public library has millions and millions of documents and books that are hundreds of years old.  The Library of Congress, even more, and the Libraries around the world have been around longer and have other items. No one anywhere knows what is contained in any one library. People may catalog the material, but they don’t often have the time to read everything. So a person doesn’t have to venture into space or the bottom of the ocean or the Amazon Basin to explore. There is plenty of adventure to be found, around the corner, in the library.

                      I am not sure if I had a specific point of focus in today’s post, but here it is, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts and criticisms and ideas, about anything you wish.