My Christmas/New Year's Wish

 I've been so fortunate this year to learn of the beautiful people in my life, so it seems a little selfish to want for more.

But spending lots of time in hospitals and isolation gets the ol' noggin working overtime, and I just cannot fathom what has happened to this country.

We are hardly United States anymore -- a 50/50 Congress is proof enough that there are some deep divisions here. But what I cannot understand is how one man --a silver-spoon multimillionaire representing some of the country's poorest areas -- can hold up our government.

The guy drives his Maserati to his yacht, yet worries that an extra $300 payment to poor families will be wasted on drugs. Oh, and it will cause  the debt ceiling to rise further. A minute fraction of the military budget could fund that program in spades.

And then we have the people who think a vaccine will 1. impinge on their freedom, or 2. allow the government to track their every move (as if their phone doesn't already) or 3. create even more demand for aborted fetuses for research purposes.

Most of us are alive an healthy because of the vaccines created decades ago. Not many folks are left in iron lungs these days. It's science, not evil.

I  was never a fan of the Bush presidents, but I do remember the elder extolling us to be a kinder and gentler nation -- where did that go off the rails?

We need to re-examine what's really important in life. My former Virginia neighbor alerted me to  a chronicle of a young woman diagnosed with leukemia, Between Two Kingdoms. She had a horrible case with too many side effects and setbacks, but in the end she seems to have conquered the immediate threat. 

To transition back to "normal" life, she takes a road trip and visits many people who corresponded with her during her illness (she somehow managed to snag a New York Times column to chronicle her cancer journey). The wisdom from the people she met was astounding, but the one that really struck me was a woman who'd lost her son to suicide then developed her own cancer. 

"The events of the last few years have been a terrible lesson in being present,, not just in my own life, but in  the lives of the people I love. Tomorrow may happen or tomorrow may not." 

Just in case it does though, why not be kind? For any number of reasons, some people struggle with daily living -- give them a break. To go back to the mantra of the '80s, think about What Would Jesus Do? He would show love for whomever needed it.

Can we honor that concept, and make this a nicer place to be present in the lives of all.