Opuscula Thoughts on December 25

CALL ME A “SCROOGE” OR the Grinch, but December 25 is depressing.
The tv “news” shows clips of needy people receiving hot meals.

That’s a good thing, but the meals only are handed out two or three days a year (Thanksgiving, December 25, and maybe, Easter).

What will the needy eat the remaining 363 days? Dumpster^™ delight?

Homeless person searching for food in Dumpster^™ (http://tinyurl.com/y9t9v586)

I also see, thanks to the “boob tube,” commercials begging for money to aid wounded veterans.

Wounded Warriors, Disabled American Veterans (DAV), and at least one other, all beg for financial help. “Only $19 a month.”

I don’t begrudge the organizations’ appeal and I applaud their efforts on behalf of veterans.

But I am ashamed that we — as a nation — fail to provide our veterans with the physical and mental care they deserve; after all, they were wounded in defense of our freedoms, and many were “volunteered” (drafted) so their wounds are all the more grievous.

I shouldn’t be surprised. We celebrate Memorial Day at the race track or the beach; paper poppies have all but disappeared.

Appeals from other groups, such as St. Jude Hospital,the Shriners’ hospitals for kids, and Ronald McDonald houses I consider are reasonable. The U.S. lacks social medicine or national health care.

But is national health care so good? I have lived where there IS “national health care” and I know there are gaping holes in it; I also know there are frequent appeals to donate money so a patient can go elsewhere for treatment unavailable under the health care system.

I watch as this aid group or that appeals for my limited dollars to support medical care for children in this or that country, while children in America lack sufficient food, clothing, and medical care.

A famous Jewish doctor-philosopher said, essentially, that charity begins at home. Take care of your family, then your community, then your country, and if anything is left, “the world.” I agree with that — let us succor America’s needy first, and then care for “the world.”

Finally, December 25 reminds me that it is the alleged birthday of a god. (Most agree that Jesus was born sometime OTHER THAN December 25. The date is close to the Winter Solstice when the days begin to lengthen and the frightened masses had hope spring would return.)

Millions of people have been slaughtered or enslaved in Jesus’ name. He was supposed to be a god of love; instead we have pogroms, inquisitions, holocausts. His followers make no distinction among non-believers; if you don’t believe, you stand a very good chance of being killed or, at worst, being discriminated against. It’s not “just” Jews. The crusades, while they managed to murder a number of Jews on the way to the Holy Land, were aimed at the Muslims who held Jerusalem — a town, by the way, with “peace” (salem) in its name. Consider genocide around the world. Wikipedia has a chart (http://tinyurl.com/nt96bjw), and United to End Genocide (http://tinyurl.com/njtw4bw) lists slaughters since 1915, when the Turks rounded up, deported, and executed Armenians.

The least that can happen to someone who refuses to Jesus as a god is that the person will be condemned to eternal damnation.

And you thought Islam invented “death to infidels.” Death to non-believers predates even Mohamed.

This morning — again thanks to the tv in the kitchen — I learned that the leader of the Catholic church called his followers to share their wealth with the less fortunate. This from a man whose “corporate” property makes him one of the wealthiest people alive. I would dare to suggest that rather than ask his followers to share their wealth, he should set an example by opening the church’s coffers to feed, house, and medicate and educate the poor.

December 25th ranks slightly lower than Thanksgiving. At least on Thanksgiving most Americans (and Canadians on their day) make an effort to put aside religious, if not political, differences. There are those, such as my daughter and a few “religious” leaders, who — for different reasons: my daughter because of the mistreatment of Indians, a/k/a “native Americans,” and the “religious” few who object to any holiday that is not their holiday — refuse to celebrate the day — albeit some acknowledge it by outward manifestations (mac & cheese in lieu of turkey).

As I age — not gracefully but inexorably — I notice less and less religious connection to December 25 and more and more the Hallmark^™ connection. I’m not sure if that is good or bad.

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