The myth of Memorial Day

There is the erroneous belief, often portrayed as (incorrect) knowledge that a myth is simply a made-up story. Not every fictional story is a myth. Kurt Vonnegut's Slapstick, or Lonesome No More is not a myth, it is a novel. Joseph Heller's Catch-22 is not a myth, it is also a novel. Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is not a myth, it's a novella. And Earnest Hemmingway's The Old Man and the Sea, is a long short-story, but it is not a myth. I have chosen to use American examples because for any number of reasons, Americans are more prone to myth-making and myth-believing that other folks. What is more, the size of the tale has nothing to do with whether a story is a myth, or even mythical, hence my inclusion of varying sized works.

For my purposes here, let me tell you what I mean when I use the word "myth". It is this: a myth is most often, but not necessarily always) a story whose design and intent is to point to something bigger than itself. The elements of the story may, or may not, be true; that is, they may, or may not, correspond and conform to the reality of actual events that once took place. They may simply be stories based on certain events that occurred or alleged to have occurred. But it doesn't matter. Most importantly, however, all myths start out well-intentioned to impress, inspire, or perhaps explain; most myths are harmless (because they have become ineffective ... they are no longer "believed"); but, in the end, all myths become destructive, especially when they are believed after having been exposed as untrue stories that point to no reality greater than themselves.

One of the worst, if not the worst, myths ever perpetrated is the Myth of Progress. This is the story that tells us that things, and by that the teller always means "the world in which we live" is getting better. It implies that there is a utopian, paradisiacal end to human (primarily, technological) development, but it's never had it's own story, rather it has always been presented as an obvious truth enclothed in a different set of "facts" each time it is told. A lot depends on who is telling the story and which point the teller is trying to make. It's such a shoddy myth, though, because it was never really true. Oh, don't get me wrong, we have things today that we never had before and some of them can be used for the betterment of all: things like soap and water-pumps and flush toilets, but most people in the world don't have these things and the people that have them aren't ready to share them with those who don't, so while they have made the world a better place for some, they haven't made the world a better place, so I have trouble seeing where the "progress" part comes in. But that's a whole other story.

No, my focus here are myths as we generally understand them: those stories that point to things greater than themselves and which we then believe to be true, even though they aren't. In fact, we tend to believe these stories all the more, the more we find out they're really "just myths"; that is, well-intentioned, made-up stories that simply shouldn't be believed anymore, because they have become, as all myths eventually do, destructive. They end up making things worse instead of better.

The reason this whole idea of myths and untruth and destructiveness are on my mind is because this is Memorial-Day weekend in the United States, and having originally hailed from there, I still have a connection to the place even though I left there so long ago. What is more, over this weekend, I will be, literally, bombarded by social-media memes all expressing the same mythical sappiness that every American who ever donned a uniform is a hero (or heroine) who did his (or her) part to ensure that all those meme-spreaders have the freedom to annoy the rest of the world with their own rather limited and, too often, self-serving worldview that they are somehow role models for the rest of us. Yes, what I hear so often from my fellow countrypeople, either directly or indirectly, implicitly or explicitly, is that if the rest of the world would just be like America and acknowledge that America is the greatest country in the world, well, the world would be a much better place. I know my fellow countrypeople are for the most part lovingly well-intentioned, but with loving well-intentionedness, cluelessness often goes hand in hand. Yeah, ya gotta love 'em, even if they are so annoying. Yet there's a dark side to this apparent harmlessness that needs to be acknowledged as well.

Don't get me wrong, I would be the last person to maintain that what Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan started in the middle of the last century was a good thing. There was, as they say, a mass of evil afoot. Even as much against war that I am, it's hard for me to think that "issue" could have been resolved peacefully. Still, it was a prime opportunity for myth-building, and that we did.

We Americans like to think we won that war, and some nasty tongues maintain that we haven't won a war since. Truth be told, like it's predecessor, World War I (the war to make the world safe for democracy, which also didn't work apparently), the Americans were extremely reluctant to even join in. There was a lot of mental calisthenics being performed and a lot of whining about "Europe" and "their problems" and all, but in the end, there were severe economic downturns that just weren't turning around, so it seemed like a good idea at the time to find a reason to get involved. If it weren't for the Japanese attacking its Pacific fleet -- which was stationed somewhere the Americans claimed belonged to them (though they really couldn't prove that they did) – we may not have gotten involved at all. But we got in right as things started going bad for the bad guys, and by 1945 we were on the winning side, so even thought primarily the Soviets (which we called the Russians and their ilk in those days) kicked Hitler's butt, with some help from the Brits (who had been kicked off the continent) and the French (who though already defeated organized some significant resistance). Of course, the Soviets, whom we generally didn't like then, liked even less later, and continue to dislike in the guise of Russians today, really took a beating in beating the Germans, so we, who suffered the least, who contributed more supplies and money than actual troops, and who had far fewer dead than anybody else, proudly stepped forward to accept the awards and accolades for victory. Americans have never been shy about accepting awards, even if they don't really deserve them.

But, be that all as it may, it was good that evil was stopped. Of course, given the fact that other than Hawaii, which not everybody thinks counts, nobody was invading America or fighting in its streets, or razing its cities to the ground with artillery and bombs, or setting fire to it with incendiaries, or starving its citizens to death in obscene and insane sieges. It was really not suffering all that much at all compared to everybody else, so when it was finally all over, the only country which had much infrastructure and production facilities in tact was, well, the United States. They also had an intact military and one that really wasn't weary of fighting yet. After all, they only got involved at the tail end of the whole affair. They were still fresh and idealistic and, if needed be, raring to go. The last man standing, so to speak, the one who had just showed up, declared himself the world's first superpower and all anybody else had to say was a tired and mumbled "whatever". And that's when America really did what it has always done best: it stepped in and showed everyone else just how easy it is to make money out of misery. We were now going to show the world how things really get done.

No, this isn't the version we read about in our history books, and it's not the version our parents or grandparents told us. It's a jaundiced recounting, however, of the real story. All the other stories we were told were, well you guessed it myths. The stories we were told about this were designed and intended to (a) make Americans feel good about themselves, even if they had not made the biggest contribution, (b) let everyone else know that it was America's duty – if not right – to take charge on the world stage, and (c) keep the door open for other, future, most likely unexpected opportunities to stay in charge.

No, I'm not saying that any of this was evil, or nefarious, or even bad. Americans tend to be a naïve breed, and I really think that more than anything else the United States simply wanted a relatively peaceful world in which to hawk their wares and make oodles of money. They stepped right in and organized the world monetary system, set up institutions to ensure these would endure (like the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund – and notice two of three deal with money), and made a sound effort to make the rules of the game such that everybody would get something in the deal, all properly allocated, of course, in terms conducive to the rule-makers.

But, things didn't stay that way. The next thing you know, America found itself embroiled in one armed conflict after the other. First there was Korea, which was such a mess that to this day everyone wants to forget about it. Then there was Southeast Asia, which the Brits had mucked up, then the French had mucked up (but what can you expect, really, look at how they ended up in WW2 before we "saved their bacon", as we like to say), so now it was our turn ... and we mucked up. History, unkind or not, makes the use of the words "lost" and "war" in the same sentence unavoidable. And, I have to admit, my fellow countrypeople, on the whole, have been having a bit of crisis of confidence since.

But, they push on in spite of themselves: the bloody suppression of so-called "revolutions" in South and Central America, the overthrow of democratically elected governments that were somehow deemed "unworthy", as it Iran, Chile, and even Greece, the over-the-top interventions in the Middle East – Gulf I, II, and Iraq – and now the so-called global war on terror (GWOT) which, as we all know, creates far more terrorists than it ever has or ever will ever eliminate. And each and every time we perpetuated an outdated myth or recast an old one in new garb or turned up the marketing of those elaborate and pompous stories we created about our good will, our humanitarian goals, our fervent desire to bring liberty and freedom to oppressed peoples, our moral obligation to a higher purpose. And each and every time we sent – no, we sacrificed, on the altar of power and profit – our best and brightest and bravest and – truth be told, poorest – so that the few could have even more than they already do and the rest of us could be left holding the bag (of death and misery and destruction and war crimes).

We all know, in the meantime, that some few people were getting filthy rich of all these schemes, that more often than not natural resources were the real motivators for our involvement (since we were willing to put into place and maintain in power some of the most oppressive and ruthless dictators known to the 20th century in order to ensure our "interests" were well represented), that yellow and then brown people were simply not fit for all that liberty, freedom and self-governance that we held in such high esteem and so more guns and more bullets and more bombs and more death and more destruction and more overt, physical intervention would be necessary to make the world safe for ... and here is where most of the non-American world simply draws a blank: just what is it that they were (and apparently are) so bent on doing. I wish I knew. When I look at it all, it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. What am I missing?

But, the myth machine is still running full blast, cranking out stories to make all those sacrifices look like heroic deeds done for heroic purposes to achieve heroic ends. No one wants to think that all those young American men (and more recently, women) died in vain. I don't want to think it, I can assure you, but they can only not die in vain if the myth is true. We know in the meantime that the myth is not true, and the frenetic rushing about and patting of vets on the back and thanking them for their service is, I know, well-intended, but it's nothing more than the doomed-to-failure attempt to appease one's own deceived conscience.

This weekend, we should take time and make every effort to embrace all of those, living and dead, who were misused and abused by the myths. We should tell them all just how sorry we are that we allowed them to suffer for false honor and false glory. We should locate every single living vet who has been made homeless and see that s/he gets a home. We should find every vet who is suffering from whatever service-induced or even remotely-related physical or mental ailments and see that s/he gets proper treatment. We should stand up and let them, and every current service member know that we're no longer putting up with this crap: of allowing young people to be utterly destroyed for no other reason than silly stories that aren't even true. That means, of course, that we all have to take a stand for truth and actually do something. My bet is the silly stories will be retold as the barbeques get fired up and the beer chills on ice.

Happy Memorial Day.

Groundhog Day redux

Though I've been accused of it again, I'm not going to bash Americans and their quaint customs. I did that already. OK, it really wasn't a bashing, but just about anything I say these days is taken by one of my fellow countrypeople as offensive. I wonder why they're so thin-skinned?

Personally, I think pseudo-holidays are fun. The only thing similar to Groundhog Day in these parts is Siebenschläfer (lit. "seven sleeper", that is the rodent glis glis, or the fat/edible dormouse (the Romans raised them and considered them a delicacy) ... not necessarily the one who told Alice anything, but perhaps), which is on 27 June (and if it rains on that day, it's supposed to rain for the next -- who would have guessed? seven weeks). But Siebenschläfer isn't as hyped and overdramatized, and it certainly was memorialized in film, as Groundhog Day.

OK, maybe because I was born and raised in Western Pennsylvania where groundhogs are not only cute but tasty (and that's for all you who rumpled your nose at the Romans) that I think it's kind of fun to pretend not to believe the nonsense, even though most people do.

It's OK, you can face up to it. Sure we don't "believe" any of this superstition, but when the day comes, we do stop and try to find out what's what. For most people, Phil's shadow or Siebenschläfter rain, tells the story. And don't give me any of that we're-all-into-science-and-not-superstition stuff. Didn't the US Senate just recently pass a resolution that disavowed the science of global warming? As if legislative votes had anything to do with any kind of reality known to the everyday person.

But inspite of all the denial, when it comes right down to it, when push comes to shove, when we have nothing less to raise as arguments, these are your elected representatives -- the "upper" house, no less -- and according to rules of democracy (which you all also claim to love so dearly and love proclaiming so loudly), whoever wins the election represents everybody, because, well, that's how the system works. Live with it. Should the world turn on its head and America fall to being just another failed empire, you'll all be guilty of whatever the new bad-boys on the block will want to accuse you of. If you don't believe me, just ask the Germans; they have some experience with this sort of thing.

And that's what I love about Groundhog Day. It keeps coming around again and again and again, and just as Bill Murry is a different person each time around, till he changes at heart, he really remains the same. And so is it with any and every empire that has ever plagued the earth. Oh, don't get me wrong, there is good in everything and good can come out of everything, but for the majority of people who have ever lived, we haven't been given the clean end of the stick. That, however, can, and should change. But, to effect that change, we have to start thinking (and acting) differently than we have before. We have to change at heart. Can you?

And now it's passed

Well, the big day has come and gone ... again. Oh, I know, most of my American friends already have the tree untrimmed, down, set out by the trash and the decorations all put away for next year. At some point, those shedding needles have to be shown where they belong. For me, the season is far from over. In fact, it has just started. (For those of you who may have missed it, go here and then read the following four or five posts for the whole story.)

I'll admit it: I love this time of year, I love this holiday season, and I love everything it's supposed to stand for. And, I'm sad about what's been made of it, I'm unhappy about what most people do about it, and I find it depressing how little most people know about it all to begin with.

Today is a holiday all over Europe, in fact. I'm thinking only the Americans don't have time for a second Christmas day. Of course, it's not about the days one might get off work. Americans dismantled that "tradition" a long, long time ago. No, for me, it's about being able -- regardless of how briefly -- to stop and reflect on how good most of us have it, how more-than-I-probably-deserve good I have it, and how we managed to develop a social and, above all, economic system that ensures, that guarantees, that actually judges its success by how badly others are doing.

We've made a lot of technological progress and are in a position to produce more than enough food to feed the world -- even with its overbloated population -- three times over, but nevertheless we allow 50,000 people a day to starve to death. That's something to be proud of, isn't it? It's not about lazy takers in some heathen corner of the world. Some of those starving live within 50 miles of your own home. But we all know that because there's enough for everybody, there's no reason why those without couldn't have more, if they'd only get off their lazy bottoms and work harder, work longer, or simply work at all. Yeah, if the amount and intensity of work were the key, Somalian mothers would be the richest people on the planet. As it turns out, those who actually do the least have the most to show for it. How perverse is that?

Well, I know that I'm one of the few who is willing to call it what it is: perverse. We don't need to get into a religious or theological debate, the system we've thought up and imposed upon the world is, in a word, inhumane. End of story. We don't need crazed Islamist extremists to strike terror into our hearts, an honest look in the mirror and a moment's honest reflection would do just as much. Pogo was right; he hit the nail on the head: We have met the enemy, and he is us. It really is that simple.

But, I don't want to disturb any of you while you're getting back into the swing of things and seeing to it that you get more of what you don't need or want at the expense of the rest of the world. Let's face it: Christmas is about us and how good we've got it, and now that we've got it out of the way for another year, we can get back to doing what we do best: ignoring those in need and praising ourselves for how great we are.

An un-Christmasy message, I know. But sometimes, you just have to get it off your chest. I've now got it off mine, and I'm going to stop and reflect and think about what I can do to help others to get more of what they deserve, whether they meet your standards of effort or not.

The big day's almost here

It certainly won't be long now. The long awaited climax that began on the marketing side over five months ago has almost arrived. It's hard to believe how quickly the time has passed, and what is even more remarkable is how little this year's Christmas is going to be different than last year's or most Christmases before that. Apart from individual catastrophes and unexpected blessings, we're every bit as divisive, argumentative, confrontational, unyielding, insistent, aggressive, and, yes, violent as we ever were. This is true nationally, politically, communally, and individually. If all of us were better people than we were before, the world would be in better shape, but it isn't.

In spite of all the marketing hype, Christmas is about reflecting, being thankful, caring, and sharing. It is season in which Love, Peace, and Hope should abound, but I'm seeing -- and feeling -- very little of that this year. Oh, we've got our houses decorated, we're going to make another big family meal, we're going to eat too much, drink too much, and, before it's all over, complain too much and get upset too much.

I, for one, am not willing to trade the holiday in or much less give it up just because so many folks just "don't get it". I can't repeat it often enough: it is time to recognize just how much all of us (not just us in the West, I mean ALL of us) have in common: you've got family members who are more challenging that you think you can handle, well so do they and so do I; you have self-serving, out-of-touch political "leaders", well so do we; you're being made to work more and more but less and less to show for it, well, the same's true here; you are sick of the lack of commonsense and decency around you, well so am I; you wish there were more peace and less war on the planet, well so do I; you wish other people could be more like you, for then there would be fewer problems in the world, well, no, it doesn't work like that.

Christmas is the biggest Christian holiday we have (though why it's not Easter still makes me wonder, a lot). Yes, over the years it has been secularized and commercialized beyond recognition. There is not, nor has there ever been, a War on Christmas. In fact, the very notion of a "war" in relation to this particular holiday is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard, and insisting that others celebrate like you do is, well, simply narrow-minded and unreasonable.

In the West, this holiday has been the high point of the year for the last two millennia. This holiday is Christian because almost 2 billion people the world over believe that Christ, their redeemer and, as they believe, the world's salvation, was born on this day. This individual (and whether he really existed or whether he was actually born this day is so irrelevant that it's not worth mentioning) spent his short life preaching, teaching, and healing. He cared for the outcast, the downtrodden, the abused, the sick, the needy, the infirm. His message, evidenced not only by words but by deeds, was as simple as you can get: love whomever you meet as much as you love yourself and show it by helping and caring. What is so difficult about that?

The message in itself makes sense, regardless of whether you believe he was the one G-d sent to save the world. Why you act this way is completely and utterly irrelevant, so it doesn't matter how others greet you for the season. If you're offended by someone saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas", you simply don't get any of it at all. It's not what we say that makes a difference in the world. Talk is cheap. What matters is what we do. The person's birthday that is the reason for the holiday rejected no one, was offended by no one, and was willing to help and heal anyone and everyone he met. It's this story -- whether true or not -- that is the reason we should be stopping to think and reflect just what kind of standards we have in our own lives, and that is why we should try so hard to make others' lives happier at least once a year.

Christmas is a good thing, regardless of why we celebrate. Too bad so many of us don't even get it just once a year.

How does a "we" become a mere "me"?

Although it has been a while, I've dealt with the notion of "Advent", what it's about, how it not only marks a change of seasons, but also what it means in a yearly sense.

There's no real need to rehash old themes. This year is not all that different from previous ones: there's too much trouble, pain, strife, war, death, and suffering going on out there; the greedy still can't get enough; the poor are still looked down upon, if they're not outright despised; the first salvos in the so-called "war" on Christmas have already been fired; and my own desire to hear a collective voice of reason in the hectic remains unfulfilled. Too few people care ... about any of what this "season" should bring; and even fewer are willing to budge even an inch out of their own self-righteous comfort zones to fill the season with any kind of reason.

Margaret Thatcher, the Female Godhead of Neoliberalism, maintained -- and her acolytes and adherents proclaim -- that there is no such thing as society; it is merely a collection of individuals. That is unchallenged dogma in the meantime, and even the briefest glimpse at anything calling itself news confirms its "truth". But, religions -- and neoliberalism has taken on this mantle -- cannot exist apart from cultures, so that is the next falsehood that must be destroyed, and all of us worldwide, though more markedly we in the West, are rallying to the Call for Destruction. Just like the often illiterate and ignorant destroyers of culture known as ISIS, even we non-military, supposedly peace-loving, non-violent types are just as effective as they are at destroying common history as well.

Without a society; that is, without some kind of social grouping that views itself as "us", it is difficult to imagine a culture forming. A culture, in this sense, the linguistic, artistic, musical, literary, and value-oriented backdrop that provides the context in which a given group can function. In certain regards it is all those unspoken rules, guidelines, customs and mores that let everyone knew "how things are done around here". That group will then organize itself in relation to other groups in civil (political) and economic (commercial) ways. Politics and commerce are, by their very nature, unable to support culture. Given the influence she enjoyed throughout the West, when Mdme Thatcher conceptually eliminated "society", she did as much to destroy our culture as Muslim radicals do when they go around blowing up cultural heritage sites or chiseling facades off of walls. We readily recognize the one, and deal very ineptly with the other.

Though only one example, it is indicative of why we find ourselves in crisis these days ... and everything has become a crisis. Whatever it was that made us "us" has been so weakened, so debilitated that we're left primarily with ourselves. And individuals are never a sound basis upon which to build.

Some things are worth repeating

Yes, here we are again at my absolute favorite holiday. Yes, it is about the food, too, regardless of what I might have said elsewhere, but it's also about family, and whether we like it or not, whether we realize it or not, whether we've managed to deal with it successfully or not, family is something we should invest more time in.

This year, Thanksgiving is a bit more special than usual. Not only have we moved and have more family closer, we're getting more visitors than usual this year -- extended family in the best sense of the word: "adopted" children and extended-family in-laws. Oh, I can hear the hair rising on the back of some necks, but I wouldn't have it any other way. No, our extended family get-togethers are not nearly as interesting or exciting as the Griswolds (cf. "Christmas Vacation"), but they are every bit as intense, and that's a good thing.

Thanksgiving is one of the two times each year (Christmas is the other) when I don't mind getting up earlier than usual (usually about 5:00 am). It's one of those rare times in the year when I get to spend the following seven hours (at a minimum) in the kitchen, and not alone: everyone in the family, or whoever else is there, stops by at least once, and most folks more than once. Most importantly, though, it is a day in which practically every conversation, every exchange of observations, every sarcastic and insightful quip has to do with how good we have it. Yes, I am eternally thankful -- and I believe all others as well -- for absolutely everything that we have and what we are blessed enough to enjoy. I will admit that we live in decadent abundance. Life has been good to us. We are fortunate. We have more than enough so that we can share with others. Our adversity has kept itself within limits. Our calamities are more like inconveniences. Our disasters are, by comparison to others', distractions. And it is not only today that I give thanks for all I/we have, but it is today that most of us have the time to stop and think about it.

I would be remiss if I did not note at the same time, however, that there are too many people in America (only because this is the big holiday there) who have not been as fortunate as I have, who have not been blessed as we have, who don't share in the abundance that we too often take for granted. All of these people -- without exception -- don't deserve that fate.

I don't care which politics you think are right, and I don't care whether you consider yourself religious or not. The fact remains that if the joy of the day is not tinged with the sadness, is not made the least bit bitter by the fact that an increasing number of people -- not just in the USA, but worldwide -- are having difficulty finding reasons to be thankful, then you haven't truly understood what it is you have.

As one of my heroes, Bucky Fuller, pointed out: there's more than enough for everyone on this planet; and as another of my heroes, a humble Nazarene carpenter brought home: if you're not ensuring that the least of us have enough; you're missing the whole point ... of everything.

Today's the day. Wake up. Get real. Get the point. The real point of giving thanks is in the giving. You've got more, so give more. It is really that simple.

St. Martin's Day

The 11th day of the 11th month of the year was for the longest time and for the shortest of times, reason to celebrate, (I'll come back to the other reasons next time,) but there was a time when today was a much bigger deal than it is today.

Oh, I know, we're (post-)moderns now and all that mumbo-jumbo, hocus-pocus religious superstition has all been superseded by ... well, by what? rational, objective, de-mythologized ... nothing. Yes, the emptiness we feel so strongly these days has something to do with the so-called "detritus" that we sent to slag heap some time ago. Old "holidays" and (what's worse!) Feast Days are well-deserved, forgotten relics of a by-gone age ... or are they?

We live in a post-industrial -- and as many like to claim, a new, information-based society (though, actually I should say "economy", since we even banned the ghost (read: spirit) of a society some time ago). All those once-important autumn, or harvest, festivals are no longer important, even though once, at a minimum, they marked the passing of the year, and above all, the passing of our consciousness from one temporal phase to another.

Today is St. Martin's Day, which I'm sure most of you don't know, so I'm here to remind you.

Saint Martin (of Tours, who died in 490), a former Roman soldier is known once cutting his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, to save the beggar from dying from the cold. The beggar was allegedly Jesus. Not unsurprisingly, he's the patron saint of the poor (and hence more relevant today than ever). In his honor, the medieval church mandated fasting three days a week from today till Epiphany (which I've mentioned before); that is a period of 56 days, but mandating 40 days of fasting (cf. Lent).

Here in Germany, goose is the traditional dish. (OK, OK, my vegetarian and vegan friends will have to close an eye, but I'm still working from the top of the food chain and still have my -- in your eyes -- "weaknesses".) This is because -- as the legend tell us -- when trying to avoid being ordained bishop he had hidden in a goose pen, but was betrayed by the cackling of the geese.

My goose dinner will have to wait a few weeks for other reasons, but the point of all of this is that we have a day that was meant to inspire us to stop, reflect, and acknowledge the Christian "truth" that it's good to help those less fortunate than ourselves, and to stop, reflect and give thanks (it is after all, harvest time) for all that we have.

You can think what you want about the "evils" or "redemption" of religion ... it doesn't matter, really. Any time -- and for any reason -- that we can stop and reflect on what might be good not only for ourselves but for others or that gives us pause to give thanks for all that we have is time well spent.

We used to be reminded of these things as a matter of course. It seems today that I have to keep reminding us. But, that's OK, the reason for pausing is irrelevant. That we pause, that we reflect, and that we give thanks is all that really matters.

Columbus Day, again

To be perfectly honest, I find a holiday like Columbus Day shameful.

Oh, I have nothing against holidays. In fact, if it were up to me, there would be at least one holiday per month, without exception, and I would have no qualms about finding rather innocuous reasons for having them. In March, we should all be able to celebrate the Vernal Equinox, if nothing else. In August, we should simply have a Holiday of Holidays, if nothing else. Yes, every month deserves to have a holiday, and not one of those wimpy floating ones, but a real Monday holiday as it should be.

Of course, if we're going to take this approach, I would insist that each month have a holiday that is meaningful and mostly -- and I emphasize, mostly -- inoffensive to the population. You see, we could declare, say, St. Patrick's Day as a national holiday, but that would be partial to the Irish. We could have a religious holiday in August, but this would be disrespecting of non-Christians. I'm sure, though, that it wouldn't take long to find a Monday that was acceptable to everyone. After all, we only need to have a will to have a way.

Columbus Day, in all due respect, is not one of thoses days. Yes, I know that his intentions were honorable, that he merely wanted to find an alternative to the status quo of his day, but the way he went about it and the results of his personal policies made live more than difficult for millions of people, and we're talking about millions of people who never had and no longer have a voice in their own demise.

Yes, Columbus Day honors the overtaking of different cultures for no other reason than one believed that one's own culture was the best the world had to offer combined with the arrogance of believing that white, Western Europeans were in a better position to decide what was good for the world than any other peoples are the face of the earth.

In the meantime, we've come to realize that Columbus really didn't get it right, that he didn't understand the world with which he was confronted, and that he represented a way of thinking that derided and suppressed any way of understanding the world that didn't conform to their own.

No,I don't believe there were any evil intentions. No, I believe that Columbus and his crew's intentions were good. But, at the same time, I believe that they simply failed to recognize that those who were already here deserved to be treated with the same respect as any other human being on the planet.

Unfortunately, we didn't get it then, and it's quite obvious we don't get it even now. We may never learn, even if I hope that I'm wrong.

Americans aren't the only ones

Although "nations" are a rather recent phenomenon on the world stage, there is no dearth of supporters who wouldn't trade them for anything. Americans are right at the top of the list, but a lot of others, like Russia, China, a couple of the Southeast Asian group or a few in Africa would like to get in on the deal. I don't know what the fascination is to be honest, just what is it that makes them so desirable?

A lot of you don't get the reason for the question. It's quite clear that we've had nations forever and it's as natural as four seasons in some parts of the world or rain in spring (if you're from the Northern Hemisphere). Actually, prior to 1648 and Treaty of Westphalia, there weren't ever really "nations" in our current understanding of the world, but, hey, why should we let historical facts get in the way of our beliefs? Life is certainly easier when you just pick and choose what suits us rather than getting the bigger picture. Why we have border where we have them or whether they make sense, well, those are issues that have been decided, of course, so there's no need to worry our little heads about them. Or is there?

In the Western Hemisphere (a rather artificial construct, if I may say so) 1776 is a year worth nothing. In the Eastern, however, it's 1789. In both years, revolutions took place and both these revolutions had a significant impact on everything that followed. The former was a conscious (even if perhaps, unnecessary) decision; the latter, a spontaneous act that developed into something that no one foresaw. This raises a question whether revolutions are a matter of choice or fate. I don't know. What I do know, however, is that some folks peg their beliefs on the one, while others will tell you it was the other date that matters. It really doesn't matter at all.

Sometimes I think that the petty and silly animosity between Americans and the French is about who had the "real" or the "true" or the "better" revolution. Depending on who you are reading, one year or the other can be used as marking the shift of humanity into "modernity". Whoopee. So far, no one's been able to make clear to me why that makes any difference at all.

When we look at the facts, we're left with this: a lot of violence occurred, a lot of blood flowed, a lot of innocent people suffered, and a lot of misery was visited upon the participants. In the decades that followed, a lot of violence occurred, a lot of blood flowed, a lot of innocent people suffered, and a lot of misery was visited upon those who benefitted from the "revolutions". And for what? For me, that's the key question.

The reasons for both were more similar than different: injustice, be it because of taxes or the simple ability to feed one's family. The results of both were more similar than different too: a different group of oppressors took over, a lot of people had to pay taxes and couldn't feed their families, and we have a different illusion of what our role is in the grand scheme of things.

Don't get me wrong, there are good things that came out of both. But ... are we moderns really better off than those revolutionaries. I often wonder.

Memorial Day

Let summer begin! Isn't that what Memorial Day is all about in America? Yes, it is the unofficial beginning of summer, coming as it does so close to 1 June, the meteorological beginning of the season. That's not what it's supposed to be about, but what it is supposed to be about has been so distorted, I think I'll just go with the unofficial stuff. It's a whole lot easier to take.

Originally known as Decoration Day originating in the aftermath of the American Civil War, it was made an official holiday only in 1971 and is meant to commemorate those who died in military service for the country. Every country has some kind of equivalent holiday ... more often not a work-free day, certainly not a Monday holiday, as it is in the US. But what a holiday is for, why we even have a holiday, and what we do with that holiday seldom have much to do with one another.

If I were more generous, I'd say that Memorial Day became simply a victim of circumstances. Coming as close as it does to the meteorological beginning of summer, it suffered the same fate as Labor Day (the unofficial end of summer), namely being overshadowed by things that move people more personally. After all, who really wants to think about dead people when you can fire up the grill. And who wants to think about work when you may have to soon put the grill away? But, who am I to disparage the tried and true traditions of sensitive, hard-working people?

Personally -- and this is purely my own personal opinion -- I have no idea why we have a holiday to honor the dead, especially those who have "fallen in battle". Don't get me wrong, I feel deeply for every family who has had a family member go off to war and never come back. My heart grieves at the fact that robust, young men, truly in the prime of their lives, often with young and hopeful families, made what we like to call the "ultimate sacrifice" for ... well, I'm not just sure what.

If you take the last two "world" wars out of the equation (the 2nd because it was a direct result of the first, at a time when bad ideas were gaining the upper hand; and the 1st because it was the last of the vanity-driven wars), which war was fought, which young men died, for a "real cause"? I can't think of one. War, as von Clausewitz noted, is simply "diplomacy by other means", which has to be one of the most cynical statements ever to issue from the mind of a human being. All that really says is, "since I don't know what to do to finally get my way, I'll initiate the slaughter of young men and civilians (yes, old people, women, and children) to get what I want". How glad I am that three-year-olds don't have access to weapons.

Yes, I believe we should honor our war dead, but not for the reasons that we like to proclaim. There is not a single human being who ever lived who died in a war for a just cause. Yes, like the Second World War, there are wars of necessity, but only because we are too slow to realize that there are other ways to solve problems than violence. In general, however, wars are useless wastes of life. And, it is for this very reason that there should be a holiday to remember all of those who died needlessly, before their time, brutally, and in the end for nothing, because we simply haven't learned to live with one another, as human beings.

May Day: past but not forgotten

May Day, a holiday in these parts, has just past. I've said before how much I like it, but one reason I've never mentioned before is the irony of the holiday. To most people, over here, over there, it's all about those "dirty commies" and socialists who are out to destroy the world. It was on this holiday, the day of workers' solidarity, that the Cold-War "communist" regimes marched out their military hardware to remind themselves of how great they are. That was ironic because May Day as the day for labor was an American idea. And it is ironic today, because America has finally almost achieved what they couldn't do 150 years ago, namely destroy (organized) labor.

Yes, that 8-hour day that we all wax emotionally about was a victory by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) May-Day protests back in the 1880s. Most of what we consider "normal" about work, like some kind of security, an 8-hour day, paid overtime, weekends, perhaps even some benefits came to America only through the radical efforts of the IWW and other labor organizations in the face of bloody, brutal repression by moneyed interests, the government, and the police. No, the workers won the day, and what we consider workers' rights were granted by countless, tireless, fearless people like you and me, not by an aggressive military or a benevolent government act. But the forces of oppression are regained their ground, because they were able to dupe and hoodwink the very people they were oppressing into believing that poor people want to take their hard-earned gains away from them.

Actually, the white-collaring of the workforce, the relentless off-shoring of manufacturing, the automation of mining and production all played their part, but the victory that was won was made possible by all those poor saps who believed they were better than mere workers, entitled to more, and above the masses, unwashed as they are. No, it was those of us who worked by did not labor who actually betrayed our blue-collar fellows by believing the lie that we were somehow better, and deserving of more.

Of course, no sooner do you have it than someone (usually the giver) is taking it away. Individual, not collective-bargained, contracts means fewer raises. It also means longer hours, more required dedication to "the company", that is, more loyalty, more accepting of fake excuses for rising profits but only rising salaries and bonuses just a level or two above our own. And too many have passed this acquiescence and sycophantry onto our children, and we push them off to college, whether it's worth it or not, to suffer under intolerable and onerous burdens of debt, in the hopes of better life which will most likely never come, because someone once painfully won the road to it for you, and you think it's now your due. But it's not. You did nothing to earn it.

How ironic is that?

Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas

One of the silliest notions out and about these days is that there's a War on Christmas. It takes a pretty simple mind to think that just because one group of people celebrates one way and other groups celebrate other ways, their way is the best or only acceptable way. This is the kind of thing that turns me off from religion: when it becomes so exclusive and chauvinistic that any other form of belief is not just intolerable, it is downright wrong. And this insistence that I am right and you are wrong is the guarantee for many other people not wanting to celebrate at all.

The month of December (as we call it today) and the time of the winter solstice (which has been recognized by people for practically as long as there have been people) were taken as times for celebration. The ancient Romans celebrated the Saturnalia, the Mayas and Incas had their festivals at this time. At the solstice, the Scandinavians celebrated Juul and the custom was taken over by the English (as in Yule Log), in Poland some still celebrate Gody, in Northwest Pakistan there is Chaomos, and even today the Buddhists celebrate Bodhi Day on the 8th, and Hanukkah was from the 7th to the 14th this year. So belated Happy Bodhi Day to my Buddhist friends and Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish ones.

For those who think that political correctness has taken over, it is only because you have allowed it to. You're not going to go to jail for saying Merry Christmas, and people who are so thin-skinned and easily offended not only need to get over themselves, they need to recognize that any holiday greeting, even the wrong one, is simply intended as a friendly, human gesture. If you think it's any more than that ... if you take it as any less than that ... you've got more problems than most of us can help you with.

Unfortunately, I could not see that the Hindus and Sikhs have a holiday around this time, nor does Islam this (or next year). But, as everyone else has a reason to celebrate and things are going to be closed down on this day or the other, take the time to enjoy it with friends and family, and if you have no one to celebrate, feel free to celebrate with me, at least in spirit, because we probably won't be able to get together.

When there is so much going on in so many different quarters and for so many different reasons, there is nothing wrong with a quick "Happy Holidays" to be inclusive (as long as it's well-intended and heartfelt). It is a busy time of year, as we all know.

What all of these celebrations have in common, however, is that they give special attention to light (of hope, of good faith in the future, and well-being), warmth (at least in the Northern Hemisphere where it is coldest), peace and good-will to others. All of them share this. All of them. To think of "war" at all at this time of year is bizarre, narrow-minded, intolerant, and, well, ignorant. I don't have to share another's belief (or non-belief, for that matter), but the most decent, human thing to do, at minimum, is respect it.

So, Happy Holidays to all, no matter what you're celebrating. And if you have no real reason to celebrate, borrow someone else's or even make up your own, but make it a celebration of peace, joy, and hope. We'll all be the better for it.

Half-way there

We're about halfway through Advent. For the secular amongst you that means nothing. For most of the more religiously inclined whom I know, it doesn't mean much either. Unfortunately, my experience has been, for too many years of my life, that those who most often claim to be the most religious don't know many of the details of the religion they claim to believe in so strongly. If it weren't so sad, it would be ironic. But that's not why I'm here.

For most people, Advent; that is, those few weeks between Thanksgiving (in the US) and Christmas (most other places) is our time of getting ready for the big holiday. I know many, if not most, of my American friends and acquaintances have their trees up and lit, the houses are decorated inside and out, all those once-a-year songs are trilling out of the speakers, and there is still Christmas shopping to do.

We might as well face up to it: shopping is the "best" part of Christmas. Oh, I know everyone likes to complain about it, but what can be more exhilarating than spending money you don't have on things nobody really needs to function as gifts for people you may not like all that much and who really don't want them.

Far be it from me to rain on anyone's parade, but if you're really into gifts, have you ever asked yourself if you prefer giving or getting them. Most people I know at some time or another admit that they much prefer getting to giving, and I wonder how much that plays into what they get as gifts for others. I wonder how often we ask ourselves what someone else may get us, how much it might cost, whether we're obligated to respond in kind (or, worse, value), whether it will be seen as clever, cute, or whatever as we think it is. And how many of us don't hesitate after the exchanging takes place and the "guilty parties" are not around to let others know exactly what we think of their gift-giving abilities. Don't tell me it's only other people who do that. I simply don't believe you.

However, have you ever really thought what a gift is? A true gift is something you give to someone else who does not expect to get anything, especially from you, for no other reason than you want to make the other person happy and which -- and this is most important -- places zero responsibility on the receiver. No, this doesn't have to only happen at Christmas. In fact, the best gifts are those given for no apparent reason. That "something" of which I speak, may be a thing, a physical object, but maybe it's not. In fact, more often than not, the best gifts are not things at all. But, the most important characteristic of any true gift is that it is given without absolutely any expectations and no thoughts of obligation. If there are, it's not a gift. It's just a tool of manipulation.

So, think about it. We're only half-way there, so there is still plenty of time to exchange, or simply return some of that stuff you've got. Don't just think about what that "other" wants, think about what they actually need. It may be the best gift you ever gave.

Tomorrow's Bastille Day

Tomorrow, though most of my francophobic (Freedom fries?) countrypeople don't know it, is Bastille Day. This is the French equivalent of America's 4th of July: a great day for praising one's own greatness (which the Grande Nation is very adept at, like their American cousins) and for celebrating one's accomplishments (even if they are drenched in blood). More than anything, it makes a great day for flag-waving. That makes July a pretty red-white-and-blue month, I suppose.

Far be it from me to pick on the French. Even they don't necessarily want to speak English when I'm there, and even if they do frown upon my speaking German, I like France; I particularly like Paris, Bordeaux, and Avignon, where I have been fortunate enough to spend more time. No, the French, as much as anybody, perhaps even rivaling Americans, are deeply imbued with that, as Einstein called it, "infantile disease" called Patriotism.

As I pointed out just a few posts ago, Americans may be suffering from a terminal case of the disease, but the French are not far behind. There are lot of others, like the British, the Dutch, the Russians, the Chinese, just to name a few, who are not far behind. Like I said then, I don't get it. I just don't understand it. There have been a lot of disastrous things happen in the course of human history, and most of them have been perpetrated either by religions or countries (or what we, in retrospect, call countries or nations). Whatever truly great things that have happened in the course of human history, like the mastery of fire, the discovery of the wheel, the finding of a cure for some terminal disease, have all been done by individual human beings (with the huge support of other human beings from other countries and other cultures). It's not the country that makes the difference, it's the person.

When you look around you to see what is great about the world you live in, you'll always find that, first and foremost, it was brought to you by another person. People matter. Not organizations, not localities, not tribes, not regions and not countries ... people matter. I don't know why that is so hard to grasp, but apparently it is.

The real difference, in my mind, between people and countries is simple: people are here now; they are with you; you can feel, smell and touch them; they are real and concrete. Nations, on the other hand, are mere abstractions. They serve their purpose, to be sure, but it is a small purpose in contrast to what another human being can do for you.

Think about it.

The 4th of July

Yes, yes, yes, it is that time again. Break out the BBQ, fire up the coals, get ready for the fireworks ... it's time to celebrate. This is a big day for Americans, that's for sure, but what is it exactly they are celebrating? This is not a question that just sprang to mind. I've been asking it for most of my life. Most Americans will tell you, it was on July 4, 1776 that America declared its independence from Britain and became a new nation (though it took a war and 13 more years to establish that fact), signaling a new era in the development of the nation-state and enshrining freedom and liberty as the hallmarks of this new phase of existence.

Now, I really don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but right here at the outset, I find myself confused. Historians agree that the Peace of Westphalia (1648) marks the birth of the modern nation-state. The USA certainly wasn't the first, and as we have seen over the course of the last 366 years, nation-states come and go. Just ask Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, if you don't believe me. There are older people in the Czech Republic who have had three different nationalities in their lifetime and they've never left their village. Just what kind of a role does the nation really play in our lives?

And how is it that these people -- or any of us for that matter -- become citizens? I have an American passport because I was born there. How did I come to be born there? The luck of the draw. There is no rational reason why I couldn't have been born in Sub-Saharan Africa or in China or Tibet, or on some Lapp island above the Artic Circle. We place absolutely no value on chance or coincidence in any other aspect of our lives, but when it comes to which passport you can get, one's place of birth is a really big deal. A mere chance event has everything to say about one's loyalties, one's obligations, and one's commitments. Why is it only applicable in this case?

OK, maybe it's about the ideas of Freedom and Liberty. Well, back there in 1776, only white, male property owners were free. There was still indentured servitude; women were chattel; slavery was not only legal but acceptable, and we were on the threshold of carrying out the systematic and ruthless genocide of all those people who were there before the Europeans came to "settle this savage land". What does freedom and liberty mean to these people? And, how free is a country with a concentration camp in Guantanamo where they can send their own citizens without due process (provisions of the NDAA)? How free is a country which brutally suppresses peace demonstrations (cf. reaction to the Occupy movement)? How free is a country that spies upon and collects data on its citizenry for no other reason than they they can? How free is a country that enslaves its more fortunate young people with life-long debt and which denies opportunites to its less fortunate (read: poor) youth? How free is a country that blatantly expects more for itself than for any other country (say, like Iraq)?

Don't get me wrong: I love holidays as much as the next fellow, maybe even more. I love celebrating and having a good time and being able to spend quality time with family and friends. You will have to excuse me, however, if I don't get all choked up and teary-eyed. I'm saving that for such a time that the USA (or any other country, for that matter) actually makes an honest attempt to live up to the ideals they claim to hold so highly. If you want me on your side, walk the walk, don't just talk the talk.

Just a small confession

It's time for me to make a small confession. In living the life of an expatriate, one knows there are just certain things that you have to do without and you learn to live with it. The differences between the US and Germany are not so different that it's not possible to fake it every now and again. Still, there is one thing about America that I go out of my way to compensate for, and that's Thanksgiving. It is, without a doubt my favorite holiday.

In my mind, Thanksgiving is the absolute, picture-perfect ... no absolutely perfect ... holiday. Americans don't get everything right ... in fact, they even got this one wrong, but when seen in its proper light, it is the holiday of all holidays. OK, OK, we have a terribly sordid past when it comes to both Pilgrims and Native Americans, and I believe it's long past time that we owned up to that and did something about it. But, that's another blog. At the moment, I'm more interested in where we are than how we got there.

First of all, it's a guaranteed four-day weekend. (That my fellow country-people have perverted it into a kick-off for the Christmas season is, well, their own fault, and so too many people have to work anyway: consumption must go on). Secondly, the celebration part takes place at the very beginning of the break, so you have plenty of time to wind down. Third, when done right, the focus of the holiday is family. Since there is a little extra time, since there are school vacations and plant shutdowns, more people have more opportunity to get together with their family than perhaps at any other time of year. Fourth, it's about being thankful ... thankful for everything you have. Being thankful is a good thing. Stopping for a moment and thinking about how good we all have it (and just about everyone reading this is doing well) is something we need to do more often, but at least we've formally recognized that it's something we should do. After all, they made it a holiday. Finally, and for me, most importantly, this holiday is simply about the food.

Yes, I know, there are not a few families who actually suffer on this day. There are more than a few folks I know who won't go near a turkey because they'll just screw it up. I know there are lots of ways to do it wrong, but I can assure each and every one of you, that in our house, guests who don't even like turkey have asked for seconds. If there is one meal a year that I put every ounce of love in my being into the food put on the table, this is it, and everyone who's ever had it has declared they will sign a sworn statement to that effect. (OK, I'm exaggerating right now, but you know what I mean.) So what's the issue.

It's simple: since it's not a holiday here, and since the "thanksgiving" they the Germans have is not celebrated as extravagantly as we do in the States, I have to make major adjustments to have the holiday at all. Fortunately, none of the family in the immediate area have jobs that require them to work on Saturdays and with a modicum of effort, we can get everyone together. So, this year, yesterday, we got everyone together and I did my magic in the kitchen and there were nothing but satisfied faces around the table after dinner.

So, to all my European friends: you don't know what you're missing. To my American friends: I hope, on Thursday, you enjoy even half as much as I did yesterday. And regardless: take a moment and just be thankful.

Scary times again

Everybody's familiar with the ghosts, goblins and scary creatures of all kinds at Halloween. That's why we get all dressed up, put on costumes to confuse the evil spirits and go about playing tricks and getting treats. But did you know, that precisely six months prior, things can get scary as well?

Halloween may be the time of bidding the sun good-bye for the dark half of the year, but the other half is light. It only makes sense. The time to celebrate the banishing of the dark, then, is now; that is, on 30 April, for this marks the other halfway point in the year. Why don't we celebrate it?

It's not like we don't have a name for it. It is Walpurgis Night. Unfortunately, it's fallen into some disrepute over the years. Too bad, really. I think it's a great time to celebrate. Walpurgis Night is often associated with witches and their sabbath, with strange goings-on out in the woods and on the mountain tops. Goethe is his epic Faust included a Walpurgis-Night scene in both parts. The last chapter in book five of Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain is named thereafter, as is Act Two of Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Not a one of these literary associations has done anything to rehabilitate the day ... or night, if you will. Too bad.

The next day, of course, is May Day. No, not as in our ship is sinking and we're in desperate need of help, but as in dancing-around-the-maypole-day. Now, there's a light-hearted, carefree, slightly bawdy, luscious, if not voluptuous image to pursue. If there ever was a day for romping and frolicking, I suppose that's it, especially since we decided we'd have no more of Midsummer, which is really oddly named since it is the beginning of the season, not the middle of it. But, that doesn't matter.

I suppose this all got suppressed in Puritanical America (I mean, what doesn't get suppressed there?), though I can't help but think we have to lay the blame squarely at the feet of those evil communists. For whatever reason, they decided to make the 1st of May their day honoring Labor (not work, mind you), and the moment the communists are in play, well, it's clear that Americans, at any rate can have nothing to do with that so they let their paranoia force them to create their own Labor Day, which they stuck out in September. The only value it serves anymore is to let school kids know that they're either back or about to be back in school. Yeah, great reason to celebrate.

Here in tradition-rich Europe, however, May Day is still May Day, and Walpurgis Night, instead of being one of dark, foreboding, witches' rituals will see a lot of partying and dancing going on. On the evening of the 30th there will Dances into May country-wide, and the party won't stop, of course, till the wee hours of the morning. But there's a workfree day there to greet them.

We can honor labor ... in the sense that we can be thankful we don't have to work the day after the night before.

Happy Easter!

For all you non-Christians out there, and for all you who call yourself Christian but who perhaps have forgotten, today is the biggest event of your religious year. Oh, I know, we like to do things up right at Christmas, but if you stop to think about it, Easter is t-h-e Christian holiday. No Easter, no Christianity.

According to the story, it was Easter when Jesus arose from the dead. It was the resurrection that distinguished the belief of those who came to be called Christians from all other believers at the time. I know a lot of theological baggage has been added over time, but the heart of the matter is that Jesus is the one who many have come to believe has conquered death.

Death, however, is a very touchy subject, is it not? There are not few cultures who have a really difficult time - as a culture, not as individuals - dealing with it. Americans are perhaps the best example. In their obsession with youth and beauty and, more than almost anything else, fun, they tend not to spend a lot of time contemplating death. OK, contemplation may be a bit much, but I really think it is time that we realized that death is as much a part of life as life is.

Death is not as bad for those who die as for those who remain. We can believe what we want about what happens to us when we die, but we can't be sure. We can be sure, however, of how we feel when we lose a loved one, when someone close to us is no more. No, we don't live forever, at least not on this place of existence, and we have to realize that all that we do is constrained by this simple fact. I think a healthy awareness and acknowledgement of this fact can help us think a bit more about what we do, and even more importantly, what we don't do.

We too readily blame, threaten, intimidate, harass, ignore, disparage, or look down on others. We too readily manage, control, order, suppress, force, coerce, or even abuse, others as well (that's really what modern management most legal systems are all about, in the end). We too readily send young people off to war. We too readily accept pain, suffering, despair, hunger, illness, willingly blaming the victims for their fate. We never quite seem to be able to muster the courage, the fortitude, the humanity to just say "no" to greed, corruption, and power.

I like to think that holidays were once the opportunity for us to stop and think, to reflect upon what we do and do not do, what we believe and what we reject, but as it is, most of us no longer know why we have holidays, why we celebrate, or what we could possibly make of such days. You know, there are a lot of ways to die, the most overlooked is simply no longer being able to feel compassion or empathy for others.

Easter eggs and chocolate can help sweeten up the day, to be sure, but do yourself a favor and make a more lasting contribution to overcoming the death that is so widespread in today's world. Resurrect your own feelings and put them to good use.

What's so good about Good Friday?

Growing up I learned about what allegedly happened on this day in history and asked myself, "So what's so good about it?" It seemed silly to call a day "good" on which somebody was put to death in such a horrific way. Granted, it is a necessary event to the big one that follows - Easter - but it all just seemed a bit bizarre to me.

Of course, being young and, well, more ignorant than I am now, there were a lot of things I didn't know. And one of these things is that over time, words simply change and shift their meanings. We tend to think that our language is however it is, at whatever time we speak, read, and write it, but there are times in which it changes more rapidly than others (like now, for example, with the rapid and broad-based influx of English words into German, for example) and there are times when it changes very, very slowly (for example over the couple of hundred years that it took, say, "awful" and "awesome" to literally exchange meanings). The bottom line is, though, that language changes all the time. Trying to stop it from changing is like trying to hold back the tide with your hands. This is very bothersome to some people, but I haven't yet figured out why.

The "good" in Good Friday is one of those words. There was a time when it meant more than it does today. It included meanings such as "pious" and, particularly relevant here, "holy". But, most of us don't know that anymore, and a growing number of people don't care, as long as they get their holiday; that is, a day, or perhaps only half-a-day, off work. Holidays are simply no longer "Holy Days", and it would seem than not much of anything is holy anymore.

This is really too bad. Oh, I know, some really terrible things have been done to our fellow humans beings in the name of things considered "holy". What one person reveres as holy, another thinks is a silly superstition, or as mundane as things can be. I don't think we have to agree on what is or what isn't holy, but there are times when I think that thinking something is holy isn't a bad idea.

The word has negative connotations for some, I know, but all religiously and spiritually tinged words do, but what is at stake is really the acknowledgement that there just might be something that we could all agree is worth striving to uphold or protect or that we could agree is actually priceless; that is, not "without price" but "beyond price", beyond what money could possibly buy, even if we wanted to.

In thinking about this, I became dismayed that I wasn't able to identify anything that all of us could agree on. We've come to a time in which there are significantly large groups of people in various places, who, for various reasons, believe that anything can be bought and sold. This was a sad realization. Maybe I just didn't think about it long enough, or hard enough, or clearly enough, even though I think I did. Maybe I've overlooked something, and if I have, do let me know. In the meantime, I'll just have to muddle along with the consequences of knowing that no matter what it is, someone somewhere is probably willing to pay money for it. How sad can you get?

Going green

Most of you are probably thinking I'm going to go off on one of my ecological tangents, ranting on about how we're raping, pillaging, and plundering the environment, how our obsession -- no, addiction -- to fossil fuels is going to be our undoing as a species, how climate change (regardless of what the non-science whackos might think) is turning all of us into dinosaurs, and how heating the oceans, filling them with garbage and poisoning our freshwater aquifers is less than intelligent, but I'm not. Why would I want to do a thing like that? That's something for every day of the week, but not today. Today's a non-holiday! It's time again to celebrate for absolutely no reason at all.

Yes, today's St. Patrick's Day and all across America, and increasingly throughout the world, people are taking the day to put on something green (well, except for some pretty broomstick-up-the-butt types in Northern Ireland ... but, hey, there are party-poopers everywhere ... and how can you poop with a broomstick up your butt? ... uh, another story), put on their buttons that say "Kiss me, I'm Irish" when they've never likely seen, let alone even, owned as much as an Irish setter, and Boston will turn the Charles River green (with something other than chemical sludge, though maybe not as healthy) and Chicagoans will drink green (literally) beer (whereby elsewhere in the civilized world "green beer" is simply unaged beer, but that's another story too).

What's the big deal? Given the recent fascination with Catholic scandals and the Pope resigning, I can't begin to imagine it's some deep and secret desire to revere the fellow who is Ireland's patron saint because he drove all the snakes off the Ireland. I'm sure if you ask a true Irishman or Irishwoman, for that matter, they'll tell you there have been snakes on the island all along, but none of them were native Irish anymore. Or, is it that we're guilty about what we're doing to the environment? No, no, don't get anxious ... I'm not sneaking off on a tangent, I'm only asking the question. I'd find that a difficult one to believe anyway. Why is it then that hard-working, Puritan descendants (to a great extent, either physically or culturally) would want to celebrate the arrival of Christianity in Ireland? Don't get me wrong, folks, anyone and everyone who celebrates for precisely these reasons has my full and total support. I'm wondering more about all the merry makers. The loud ones.

On the one hand, it is the one day during Lent when the ban on sacrifice is lifted. Whatever you might have given up for Lent, whatever fasting you may be doing, you don't have to do today. What is more, the Irish are known world wide as a light-hearted people. If you don't believe me, leave America, travel anywhere in the world and find your way to an Irish pub (there's no major city on the planet without one) and you'll find a warm, welcoming, friendly atmosphere, where you're expected more than allowed to laugh, and where it's fair game to make fun (or take the mickey out) of just about anything or anyone you please.

No, if you ask me, St. Patrick's Day is to spring, what Halloween is to fall: one of those "holidays" we have no real idea about, other than someone at sometime somewhere celebrated it, and since they both occur in the middle of a dry stretch, are all the more reason to get simply loosen up a bit. OK, I think I get it. Cheers!