In A World where "Every Hope is Worth Saving"

So comes the Christian Holiday of Christmas, the Jewish Holiday of Channukah, the African Holiday of Kwanza, and the Muslim Holiday Eid-ul-Fitr. Amazing that throughout the centuries of civilization these traditions have been held fast and passed on from one generation to the other, even more amazing are the similarities between these traditional festivals which come from the four corners of our earth.It makes me pause in wonder that we are a world at war, it causes something to stir inside my soul...begging an answer to the age old question of why there is war, starvation, pestilence, hatred, bigotry and slavary, ethinic cleansing, and the destruction of ecology!

Recently I was introduced to a CD titled,"The Lost Christmas Eve', by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. An brilliant work which mixes the lilt of tranditional Christmas music with

Jazz, bold metalic rock,excellent orchestration and lyrics that speak to the soul of anyone willing to listen. There is indeed such a mix of feeling on this CD that it caused me to think about all the holidays in this month rolled up into one big celebration! What if...you who read my blog know what happens when I get into the what if way of thinking...

So it's the holiday season, the world is cold, much colder than usual and wetter too, here in the northern hemisphere, while in the southern hemisphere all that ozone we were told not to worry about is melting the Antarctic ice cap at an extraordinary rate. There is another type of coldness that has a mean grip on the world too, an emotional coldness, that tends to seperate those who would otherwise be good companions, friends even on this path we call life. There is a wintery wind of evil blowing across the surface of this earth of ours which has brought with it war, intolerance, indifference, hatred, injustice and has caused us to be wary even of those we once thought of as fellow warriors in the fight against all that is malicious.

In my musing about all the holiday spirit of this month of December, all the celebrations of what is good, just and healing in our civilization I began to wonder about how those who are not Christian or Jewish celebrate and so I went on a search, one that led to a comparison of liknesses instead of differences, one that I hope you will enjoy reading about. Those of us who grew up as US citizens hardly give a thought to what this whole holiday season is about, most of us know something about what the Christians are celebrating and of course we also know about the Jewish celebration because it is often incorporated into the things we teach our children in school, and is evident in the various types of decorations we see around town.

How many of us though, ever thought about what Kwanza really is, did you know that it lasts seven days, that it is based on the values known as Nguzo Saba of an ancient African people? Kwanza celebrates Unity,Self Determination, Collective work and Resposibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity and Faith... pretty important things to teach the next generation! I was impressed with the spirit of the holiday which is filled with love and light, a knowledge of something that so many of us in our busy lives tend to forget! Such a holiday would be easy to embrace, it is a spiritual lifting of the soul to it's highest good, it calls on people to reach out, and to

reach within and become all they can be! There are candles and wonderful traditional foods, everyone is on their best behaivor and not only that it is a holiday that teaches tolerance of differences! Encouraging even strangers to take part in the feastivities...hum, doesn't that sound like a good thing to you? It certainly does to me!

Then my musings took me onto another search, one for a Muslim holiday in the month of December, I knew that had to be one and when here is what I found! Eid-ul-Fitr, a festival of fast breaking that comes at the end of Ramadan, it is a joyous celebration, filled with community prayers, community fast-breaking meals, it is forbidden to speak of anything but faith, joy, hope and love during this time, imagine going three entire days without once saying a bitter, angry, spitefull,mean thing...sounds pretty good to me, in fact I decided this morning that I would attempt to spend three days without saying one bad word, without complaining, gripping or being angry...I pray that I can as I would like to know what it feels like to briddle my tongue and be only kind, loving and caring for three entire days. A muslim friend of mine gave me a gift of prayer beads, and another gave me a book of the Seven Times Prayers to help me understand Muslim thought. Eid-ul-Fitr is a time with strong spiiritual significance, one must even say prayers for ones enemies during these three days. Imagine what might happen if for three entire days the world stood still and all evil, all hatred, all war ceased! Would we ever want to go back to the days before? During Eid-ul-Fitr children recieve gifts, and sometimes money, there are wonderful foods made just for this particular occaission...hum, that sounds familiar too!

If you haven't put this blog aside yet and are still reading it is a sign of an open soul, a soul which can wrap itself around the holiness of other people, other cultures, other celebrations. What IF... we are all the same after all...what IF all those things that tend to make us think we are different just disappeared from our lives...what IF...ALL HOPES ARE WORTH KEEPING? What if we all celebrated together all the wealth of our civilizations, our faith, our countries? Wouldn't it be a Miracle if we could all take three days starting on December 16 ( which by the way is when three of these holidays are celebrated) and spend three entire days without uttering one word that was unkind, without using our ego's to make us better than, without letting our intellect rule our mouths... what IF for three entire days, all wars ceased, all men and women considered each other as precious souls, all children went to bed warm, well fed, healthy and loved? What IF we tried to be the best of ourselves, drawing on the values of Kwanza,and Eid-ul-Fitr? What if we practiced what Jesus taught for three days, what if we had the faith and valour of the Warriors who celebrated the first Channukah? What if all creation is just waiting for we humans to wake up and realize that we only have one planet and we must all learn to live on it in PEACE, with Love and Faith in the goodness of mankind as our guide? WHAT IF?!

This holiday season my personal prayer is that we might all be open to others in the same way that we are open to our families and friends, that we might spend the season counting our blessings instead of the worth of the gifts we receive and give, that we might truly make an attempt to reach out to others, that we might reach into our own souls and pour out the best of ourselves to everyone no matter what tradition they celebrate, no matter what their race or creed. It is my most solemn prayer that we might find a way to achieve a World where "Every Hope is worth Keeping!" Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, have a Blessed Eid-ul-Fitr, and a Joyous Kwanza.

For anyone whose holiday I didn't mention forgive me, and I wish you Peace.

Special thanks to Paul O'Neal and Robert Kinkel for "The Lost Christmas Eve," by the Trans Siberian Orchestra