MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE...
Let's hope it's a good one...

"Christmas comes but once a year, and when it does, it brings good cheer", said the Beatles on one of the Christmas records they made in the '60s for members of their fan club. "And So This Is Christmas", John Lennon sang back in the early '70s. And that one phrase immediately indicates there is more to Christmas than Good Cheer; something in the way that phrase sounds, the way it strikes the ear, carries an implied foreboding. Christmas may bring good cheer, but it doesn't take away the misery around the world.

We're still fighting the so-called 'War on Terror'; our President's Bunker Mentality says that the U.S. will be there until victory is achieved. I don't think victory against such a nebulous cause can be won. Better to keep the terrorists out of our country, not waste lives seeking them out elsewhere. But the war drags on, And I don't have a lot of hope for the immediate future; far as I can see, the Prezzential debates have disintegrated into awful, fingerpointing dog-and-pony shows. Send in the clowns. Wait, they're already here...

Meanwhile, workers across the nation are being laid off, our economy outsources at every opportunity, millions of dollars are being spent on That Useless War, while people here starve and can't afford the medications and medical procedures they need to survive. Administrations and politicians come and go, and it's almost as if no one really has the power to get things done in this country. What are we doing to ourselves? Sometimes I think it's already too late, that the 'dream' died with Bobby Kennedy in '68.

But we still keep on "keepin' on". Maybe it's wise not to look at the big picture too often, lest we forget to try and keep our own 'little corners of the world' tidy. I'm grateful to be alive, to be in this country, to be a part of LIFE, however much of it I have left. In spite of the bumbling ways of this administration, I still have hope for this country. I'm hoping someone is out there who can make a difference. It's all such a big mess, though. It's gonna take a whole lotta someones to turn this ship around. Let's hope it happens.

Finally, a Christmas song that's even more relevant now than when it came out in 1972...



Merry Christmas, everyone...and, Mr. Bush, War is over if YOU want it.