Thank you, Christine. Peace and Joy is my wish for Heather and family.. for each of you in this forum. Your shared wisdom is critical to my daily life.
I hesitate to write this, but, although it's a beautiful poem, it lists only believers and seems to leap over the reality that much of the strife in the world is the result of the many beliefs and deities that humans embrace. They often use these beliefs to justify so much horror. Anyway, as a non believer, I too acknowledge the cycle of life and the beautiful universe of which we are only a small fleeting part ( at least in this conscious form). Would that most of us could just appreciate this gift of the seasons of life. I wish all of you the best of what you hope for in this time.
Jim Watching the American Masters dvd on Pete Seeger’s life provides me the warm buzz of experiencing a person who fought injustice and oozed kindness. He could be Santa Claus.
Thank you, Heather, indeed we are lucky. I was just thinking tonight of the homeless in weather like this. Thanks also to Buddy for yet another beautiful and symbolic photograph. Wishing you both joy!
Lucky? One has to be 'lucky' to win a jackpot in a casino or in a State lottery or pick a longshot winner at a racetrack. But the blessings for which HCR is thankful today, including having a roof over one's head and food on the table, should not depend on being among the fortunate 'lucky ones,' but rather a foundation that our country's wealth should guarantee for all its citizens through a compassionate society.
... or when the sun is the highest and the weather the hottest! Depends completely where you are on this lovely planet. We're enjoying cool drinks sitting together in the shade here down under, finally, after a long, rainy and relatively cold winter!
Thanks Allie. It’s been challenging. I work in Portland at OHSU and live in Hood River. They closed I 84 After I drove to work Thursday. I’m still in Portland at a hotel😿. They just opened 84 yesterday afternoon so driving home this morning. ODOT said there was a 2 inch ice covering and 10 foot snow drifts in places. I thought about driving home on the Washington side of the Columbia, SR14, but they kept closing it intermittently, and one of my patients said it took him 3 hours to get to Portland from Hood River, ugh! I have gone around Mt Hood before when 84 has been closed, 26 to 35, but that too was very bad with multiple accidents. Kind of frustrating but at least I’m warm and dry. How was it in your area? I hope not as bad, and that you and your family have a joyful Christmas Day.
We dodged the worst of it. We left Eugene on the 22nd and drove to Medford (both our sisters live there) and had a wonderful family Christmas that evening. My niece and her boyfriend live in Portland and were able to get home on the 23rd (don't ask me how; they live in Sandy, and had a solid sheet of ice in the driveway when they got home; her Subaru came through!). We are gathering with Framily tomorrow to celebrate here at home.
I'm glad you're safe, and happy you're heading home today. May peace and joy get you home!
On the subject of light, the marvelous Parker J. Palmer offers up this meditation. I can't say it any better myself:
"A CHRISTMAS MEDITATION: When I was a kid, the Christmas story gripped my imagination. All these years later, that grip is even stronger. Two themes speak powerfully to me: the reminder that we live among dark forces devoted to protecting wealth and power at all costs, and the implausible notion that something as small and defenseless as a newborn—every one of whom incarnates light and love—could illumine, warm, and transform a cold, dark world.
"The darkness is easy to see. Millions in the U.S. and around the world suffer at the hands of thugs who hold (or held) positions of power. To add insult to injury, many who support these thugs believe God has ordained them and the living hells they create, including misogyny, homophobia, antisemitism, white supremacy, and assorted hatreds. How anyone can celebrate Christmas AND endorse these evils is simply beyond me.
"In darkness this deep, it’s hard to find the kind of hope that isn’t wishful thinking, hope that’s muscular enough to do business in the real world. To get there, we must work thru the fear that keeps us from speaking and acting in service of love, truth, and justice—especially when that means saying 'No' to toxic beliefs held by people we live among, and 'Yes' to things they rail against.
"Here the Christmas story has a pointed word for us: 'Be not afraid.' Those words do not say, 'HAVE no fear.' Instead, they say we don’t need to BE fear when we show up in the world. Our inner landscapes offer many places to stand—alongside fear, there are places with names like compassion, trust, faith, and a devotion to truth. By making a conscious choice to stand in one of those places when we speak and act, it’s possible to BE something better than our fear. We can be light, illumining, warming, transforming light.
"For me, the Christmas story is a reminder of a simple fact that transcends creeds: all of us have a chance to live as lights in the darkness, right here, right now. Standing alone, my little light makes little difference to anyone but me. Multiply it by the millions who want to take back the night, and we can write a new story for our time: it’s been done before, and it can be done again...
"In that spirit, I wish everyone the blessings of light, and a resolve to BE the light!"
A blessed Christmas and holiday to you all, and may we all have health and PEACE in the New Year!
That so many traditions have celebrations around this time of year shows that both the time and the message are what is important, not what the "reason for the season" is. I will take Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Blessed Solstice, Happy Kwanzaa, Festivus or any greeting and say "thank you".
Happy Chrimbo as our dear friends across the pond say. Dr. Richardson, you are a shining beacon of intelligence and “the way” through the quagmire for all of us… To you, and your dear Buddy, I wish you a most peaceful and restful few days and the welcome of being on the “upside” as I like to call it. Winter May be here but Spring. Is. Coming. Let your light shine, and leave it on, as my favorite hippie rocker PigPen put it 50 years ago :-)
I know that Christmas and Hanukkah get all the media inches but please go with Science and the Solstice. We live on a magnificent planet with a variety of life that amazes and awes. Our love and kindness goes to all life that we share Earth with. We give thanks for you
All the best to you & yours. Thank you for shining light into darkness.
For so many compatriots on this forum. Along with “A Night Before Christmas” which I read again tonight aloud, this poem quivers with the Light.
We the People.
Cheers!
Presented at the lighting of the National Christmas Tree, White House, Washington, D.C., December 1, 2005
Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem
By Dr. Maya Angelou
Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Flood waters await us in our avenues.
Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and grey and threatening.
We question ourselves.
What have we done to so affront nature?
We worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?
Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.
It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.
Flood waters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.
Hope is born again in the faces of children
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors.
In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.
We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.
We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.
Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
Implore you, to stay a while with us.
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see community.
It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.
On this platform of peace, we can create a language
To translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.
At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ
Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues at the coming of hope.
All the earth's tribes loosen their voices
To celebrate the promise of Peace.
We, Angels and Mortal's, Believers and Non-Believers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.
Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul.
🗽💜🌲✨
Thank you, Christine. Peace and Joy is my wish for Heather and family.. for each of you in this forum. Your shared wisdom is critical to my daily life.
“It is Christmas, a halting of hate time.” Wish it were so…
I hesitate to write this, but, although it's a beautiful poem, it lists only believers and seems to leap over the reality that much of the strife in the world is the result of the many beliefs and deities that humans embrace. They often use these beliefs to justify so much horror. Anyway, as a non believer, I too acknowledge the cycle of life and the beautiful universe of which we are only a small fleeting part ( at least in this conscious form). Would that most of us could just appreciate this gift of the seasons of life. I wish all of you the best of what you hope for in this time.
Jim Watching the American Masters dvd on Pete Seeger’s life provides me the warm buzz of experiencing a person who fought injustice and oozed kindness. He could be Santa Claus.
Thanks Keith.for this info, I'd like to watch it!
Thank you for that, Christine.
Thank you for the poem by Maya Angelou. “Peace my soul”.
Thank you Christine for this poem. Peace, my sister and Merry Christmas.
Christine, thank you. Wishing you peace, happiness and good health.
Merry Christmas.
So lovely. Thank you for posting. I'm sure I saw this read live in 2005 but never read it. Big Maya Angelou fan here!
That is wonderful, Christine. Thank you.
How beautiful Christine! Thank you, and Peace!
Thank you. Peace my sisters and brothers. Peace Heather Cox Richardson and Buddy. Peace to all, Red or Blue.
Peace to all of every hue.
Faith or not or differing belief, Peace to all in this world of grief.
Reaffirm trust and belief.
Let missiles and drones suspend; simply cease.
Remember the words of wise men who implored-Imagine no countries, no borders no wars.
Thank you for this
Beautiful Christine! Thank you for sharing these beautiful words from Dr Maya Angelou
So true and well said.
Well said, I ditto that. Don't think I'd have made it through without her letters!
Merry Christmas, Heather and Buddy. Thank you for all you have done to help keep some sanity in our lives. You are one of the best gifts ever!
Above all else, the holiday reminds us to love one another. Thank you for the loving kindness you give to us all, Heather.
The light starts to come back…
Yup. Our nation is getting its light back.
Thank you Professor! Light and peace to you and your beloveds. ♥️
Namaste. We all share the light to come. Renewal.
Yes, Carlann, 😊
Thank you, Heather, indeed we are lucky. I was just thinking tonight of the homeless in weather like this. Thanks also to Buddy for yet another beautiful and symbolic photograph. Wishing you both joy!
Lucky? One has to be 'lucky' to win a jackpot in a casino or in a State lottery or pick a longshot winner at a racetrack. But the blessings for which HCR is thankful today, including having a roof over one's head and food on the table, should not depend on being among the fortunate 'lucky ones,' but rather a foundation that our country's wealth should guarantee for all its citizens through a compassionate society.
So true, Jack. Thank you!
Those things should not depend on being lucky, but sadly today too many times today they are.
Thank you for your kinds thoughts. It helps more than you know. Christmas is never easy, but I know I will be all right.🐼❤️
... or when the sun is the highest and the weather the hottest! Depends completely where you are on this lovely planet. We're enjoying cool drinks sitting together in the shade here down under, finally, after a long, rainy and relatively cold winter!
Have a great Holiday Season everybody everywhere!
Thank you, Heather. Remember also that these shorter days are special, in that we are granted seeing both sunrise and sunset with ease.
Wishing you and all this community you've created a New Year's filled with good health, good adventures, and peace.
Warmest Holiday and New Year wishes to you, Heather, and to everyone else on this thread. Peace to all.
I send my love and gratitude to all of you. May there be peace on earth some day
💙💛
In our lifetimes, Karen!
Mine is sent right back, Karen. I hope you got through that horrid ice storm OK.
Thanks Allie. It’s been challenging. I work in Portland at OHSU and live in Hood River. They closed I 84 After I drove to work Thursday. I’m still in Portland at a hotel😿. They just opened 84 yesterday afternoon so driving home this morning. ODOT said there was a 2 inch ice covering and 10 foot snow drifts in places. I thought about driving home on the Washington side of the Columbia, SR14, but they kept closing it intermittently, and one of my patients said it took him 3 hours to get to Portland from Hood River, ugh! I have gone around Mt Hood before when 84 has been closed, 26 to 35, but that too was very bad with multiple accidents. Kind of frustrating but at least I’m warm and dry. How was it in your area? I hope not as bad, and that you and your family have a joyful Christmas Day.
Karen, My prayers are with you as you travel the icy roads. Please get home safe.
Thank you!
We dodged the worst of it. We left Eugene on the 22nd and drove to Medford (both our sisters live there) and had a wonderful family Christmas that evening. My niece and her boyfriend live in Portland and were able to get home on the 23rd (don't ask me how; they live in Sandy, and had a solid sheet of ice in the driveway when they got home; her Subaru came through!). We are gathering with Framily tomorrow to celebrate here at home.
I'm glad you're safe, and happy you're heading home today. May peace and joy get you home!
Even the poorest of us are wealthier than 90% of the worlds population. We are blessed.
On the subject of light, the marvelous Parker J. Palmer offers up this meditation. I can't say it any better myself:
"A CHRISTMAS MEDITATION: When I was a kid, the Christmas story gripped my imagination. All these years later, that grip is even stronger. Two themes speak powerfully to me: the reminder that we live among dark forces devoted to protecting wealth and power at all costs, and the implausible notion that something as small and defenseless as a newborn—every one of whom incarnates light and love—could illumine, warm, and transform a cold, dark world.
"The darkness is easy to see. Millions in the U.S. and around the world suffer at the hands of thugs who hold (or held) positions of power. To add insult to injury, many who support these thugs believe God has ordained them and the living hells they create, including misogyny, homophobia, antisemitism, white supremacy, and assorted hatreds. How anyone can celebrate Christmas AND endorse these evils is simply beyond me.
"In darkness this deep, it’s hard to find the kind of hope that isn’t wishful thinking, hope that’s muscular enough to do business in the real world. To get there, we must work thru the fear that keeps us from speaking and acting in service of love, truth, and justice—especially when that means saying 'No' to toxic beliefs held by people we live among, and 'Yes' to things they rail against.
"Here the Christmas story has a pointed word for us: 'Be not afraid.' Those words do not say, 'HAVE no fear.' Instead, they say we don’t need to BE fear when we show up in the world. Our inner landscapes offer many places to stand—alongside fear, there are places with names like compassion, trust, faith, and a devotion to truth. By making a conscious choice to stand in one of those places when we speak and act, it’s possible to BE something better than our fear. We can be light, illumining, warming, transforming light.
"For me, the Christmas story is a reminder of a simple fact that transcends creeds: all of us have a chance to live as lights in the darkness, right here, right now. Standing alone, my little light makes little difference to anyone but me. Multiply it by the millions who want to take back the night, and we can write a new story for our time: it’s been done before, and it can be done again...
"In that spirit, I wish everyone the blessings of light, and a resolve to BE the light!"
A blessed Christmas and holiday to you all, and may we all have health and PEACE in the New Year!
That so many traditions have celebrations around this time of year shows that both the time and the message are what is important, not what the "reason for the season" is. I will take Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Blessed Solstice, Happy Kwanzaa, Festivus or any greeting and say "thank you".
Thank you so much for sharing this, Bruce.
Oh Parker Palmer! 🌟❤️🌟The strength of his light is powerful because he also acknowledges the dark. Thank you for this Bruce and Happy Holidays to all!
Merry Christmas and Happy Solstice from all of us in the snowy Berkshires, Martha! 🌲⛄️❤️
So much love to you, David and Smitty! Fancy meeting you here! ❤️
It is simply beyond me too, yet hateful propaganda touches so many hearts
That is beautiful Bruce, Thank You
Happy Chrimbo as our dear friends across the pond say. Dr. Richardson, you are a shining beacon of intelligence and “the way” through the quagmire for all of us… To you, and your dear Buddy, I wish you a most peaceful and restful few days and the welcome of being on the “upside” as I like to call it. Winter May be here but Spring. Is. Coming. Let your light shine, and leave it on, as my favorite hippie rocker PigPen put it 50 years ago :-)
I know that Christmas and Hanukkah get all the media inches but please go with Science and the Solstice. We live on a magnificent planet with a variety of life that amazes and awes. Our love and kindness goes to all life that we share Earth with. We give thanks for you
I love your perspective
Merry Christmas to all!