What Would Happen If We Got
More Christmassy
Some of you may, like me, be old and red-necked enough to remember a skit by Archie Campbell, of Hee Haw fame, called Hockey Here Tonight. In it he hilariously describes following a crowd of people into a big barn built over a pond where they were watching some guys with runners on their shoes trying to get this little black can, he later learned was called a puck, off the ice. Funny thing was they were all trying to get the thing off the ice by hitting it around with these sticks they were all carrying. He asked the feller beside him why they didn’t just pick it up and throw it, and the feller told him they weren’t supposed to use their hands, which Archie reckoned was totally understandable. He then saw that there were two baskets, one on each end of the pond, that the fellers with the sticks had decided to chuck that puck into. Problem was that each basket had a feller in front of it, the owners of the baskets he assumed, sayin’ “you ain’t a puttin’ ‘er in my basket!” Well eventually they managed to get that puck into one of those baskets after which the crowd picked up and headed home – “half of ‘em mad, and half of ‘em glad.”
Kind of describes our country right now, doesn’t it? Half mad and half glad. So much so that certain thought leaders are suggesting that we don’t eat holiday meals with family or friends who don’t feel the same way we do! Not very Christmassy if you ask me.
What might Christmas be like if, instead of digging our trenches deeper, we actually reached out and purposely invited someone we disagree with to dinner?
What might Christmas be like if, instead of trying to persuade them to switch sides, we asked them to help us understand their concerns.
What might Christmas be like if, we honestly started listening to learn, rather than for a counterattack opening?
What might Christmas be like if, our listening revealed a problem we both agreed needs to be fixed?
What might Christmas be like if, we could discover a solution, or at least a partial solution, that we could work on together?
What might Christmas be like if, we actually did work together side-by-side to resolve some injustice, some inequity, some tragedy?
What might Christmas be like, if we took this approach with everyone with whom we have any kind of disagreement, not just over politics?
How helpful, how healing, how Christmassy would that be?
A very merry Christmassy Christmas to all of you all from all of us here at the Smile Miracles Project –
