2019 - Make it the best year ever - Holiday Greeting from The Nelsons

"Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness." Archbishop Desmond Tutu

I am beginning this reflection on the first day of Hanukkah, a Jewish Festival, celebrating the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. The nation I live in is grieving the death and celebrating the life of President George H W Bush. Ann and I are on a brief holiday in Hot Springs, Arkansas. We walked past several Confederate flags as we explored one of our National Parks. We are not Jewish. We are not Republicans, and we are not Southerners. And yet this day feels right. It reminds us of the wonderful diverse world that surrounds us.

In the coming days we will celebrate Advent and Christmas with a variety of friends and family. We will welcome our two children, their spouses, and our five grandchildren for a few days of Yule (Swedish) traditions in food and fun. Our human path is not better than any others, but it is ours. Our religion and our politics are not superior to others, but they have given hope, community and inspiration for service to others.
Living in the crossroads of the amazing human family is a unique and wonderful experience.

The last several years have been difficult for many. We have struggled with the denial of science, real news, and politics as a relationship building endeavor. We have been repeatably stunned by violence, shootings, and tragic death. As a consumer of news, we have been shocked by the rejection of facts and the plethora of untrue and harmful stories spilling forth from an alarming number of sources.

We have a choice this day and every day. We can choose to curse the darkness, or we can choose to spread the light. We choose the latter. Like our Jewish sisters and brothers and people of many world religions we will light candles to push back the dark. Like President Bush we will tell stories of a thousand points of light. Like our friends from the south we will practice hospitality even with those we disagree.

We continue to volunteer in Assistance League and the Atkins Johnson Farm and Museum. We gather to discuss books and culture monthly with Vital Conversations, book clubs, and other small groups. Our culture becomes clearer through the Unicorn Theater, movies, and television. Another light we appreciate are great newspapers, like “The New York Times”, “The Kansas City Star” and “The Wall Street Journal”. It takes courage to speak the truth in today’s world.

Books found helpful this year:
Celestial Mechanics by William Least Heat- Moony
The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas -- book and movie
Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine Albright
The Faithful Spy by John Hendrix -- graphic novel about Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Speak: A Novel by Louisa Hall
The Bookstore of Yesterday by Amy Meyerson
Why Religion? A Personal Story by Elaine Pagels

We appreciate each of you and the light you spread in your corner of the world.

Ann and David Nelson
(816) 453-3835
humanagenda@gmail.com