It has been about a month since our election and the sparks are still flying.

On a broader basis, sparks are flying all over the world. Major political change has become a fact of life in Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and South America.

We also are seeing Earth rebelling. Climates are doing crazy things, and  even the tectonic plates seem to be grumbling about what a mess we are creating.

Internally, the United States has been ignoring building pressures for years. We have let the rust belt rust, and allowed social pressure to rise to a level where the country is pushing itself apart instead of pulling itself together.

Many intelligent people are saying and writing things that will embarrass them in years to come as they fall victim to the influenza of over-reaction.

The world seems to be in a downward spin that has left most of its citizens dizzy and nauseous. News clips flash by of constant war, religious zealotry, homeless millions caught in the maelstrom, precious capital used to blow things up instead of building homes and factories and infrastructure.

And yet in some respects we are better off than ever. We are seeing wonderful advances in technology, medicine, healthcare and food production. To paraphrase Dickens, “it is the best of times, the worst of times”. And we need to understand both.

We are also reminded on this date of what a horrible place the world can become when we are forced into deciding events by destruction and chaos. Most of us truly want to find a way through all of the many issues and emerge in a place where we each have a chance to raise our children in peace and prosperity. It may seem out of reach right now, but we are in the season where hope should be a transcendent emotion. Perhaps we need miracles. Perhaps we just need to deescalate some of the rancor and take one step at a time towards healing.

In that spirit, I offer the following Christmas Prayer which is derived from a similar prayer In the Cat’s Eye (Snap Screen Press, 2009).

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you may celebrate, and may we find a way to a more peaceful and happy new year.

Glenn K. Currie

 

                        Christmas Prayer

We live in a world,

Where people do unto each other,

The most horrible things.

Please help us to find a way,

To silence the hatred and animosity,

To end the explosions of hearts and minds.

Send to us a gentle breeze,

That can blow away,

The smoke that blinds the soul.

In this season,

 Help us to begin to find,

That gift born within each of us.

The light, the glow,

Emitted by the human spirit,

That reaches to the farthest stars.

That quiet flame that illuminates the path,

To a promised land of

 Peace on Earth, Goodwill to men.

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