Christmas Musings

I’ve been pondering this question for about a month now. What is the biggest problem in our country, and how can we fix it? Incredible. Where to start?

My musings have had me contemplating everything from, health care, bigotry, hunger, unemployment, our perpetual involvement in military conflicts, and--today--some of the ingrained presuppositions many of my country-men and -women hold.

On my drive to work, being the eve of the birth of Jesus Christ, I started thinking about Christmas. My ponderment started with the idea that this is my first Christmas, in the last six, without Rachal.

Next I got to thinking about work. How I should answer the phone today? I work in the call center of a luxury resort, and we have to be exceedingly gracious on the phone. I considered answering my calls with “Merry Christmas, and thank you for calling…” but, what if I got someone on the phone who didn’t celebrate Christmas? Not everyone in our glorious country is Christian.

Then i wondered what does it mean to be Christian? I sometimes hear about good Christian values, or a person being a good Christian. It’s often assumed if a person is Christian they are a “good” person. Some of the shadiest people I know are obnoxiously Christian, Evangelists that hide behind the sacrifice of their savior to justify their wrong doing. After all, they're only human, and thus are expected to sin, so they can steal or sleep around. Bullshit.

So, as too many Americans think, if Christian=Good=American, then Not Christian=Evil=Un-American. Also, Bullshit. I’ve actually heard someone say that Barack Obama can’t possibly be a good president, or a good American, because he’s Muslim. "Why do you think that?" I asked.

"Because, Muslim’s don’t have the same values as Americans do," was the reply I got. Are you kidding me? The few Muslims I’ve had the pleasure of meeting are some of the best Americans, rather PEOPLE, I know. So...whoever forwarded that email to my dad--burn in your Christian Hell you ignorant fuck.

I realize that not all Christian’s are bad people, and I know there are equally hypocritical followers of most, if not all, other religions (trying to avoid those absolutes... thanks Pam). Maybe it’s the idea of how presumptuous and closed minded some groups of people, who identify with a particular faith, can be that really bother me. God is unknowable. The idea of an all powerful, all knowing, all creating entity is like infinity. Our simple, ego-centric, human minds cannot possibly grasp the concept.

Why can’t we all just understand the different religions and faiths of this shrinking planet are all pointing at the same thing? They are simply different paths leading to the same destination. Not one of us will fully comprehend God until we return to her at the end of the journey. We are all on the same team, but will we ever that? Is it too much to hope for that the new era we will be entering at the end of 2012--the "end of the world as we know it"--could be one of universal peace, and enlightenment? Probably, but we all need to have faith in something.

Happy holidays from the Nine-Twenty.

Peace. MethodikalMadnz out.