Our local newspaper is filled with uplifting stories this morning. Several businessmen donated over a hundred turkeys to complement the work of the downtown mission, a couple who won a million dollars in a sick children's hospital lottery is donating a portion of it back, there is brisk activity at the Salvation Army stations in bustling shopping malls.
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) helps to put the season in perspective with his poem, 'The Reminder.'
While I watch the Christmas blaze
Paint the room with ruddy rays,
Something makes my vision glide
To the frosty scene outside.
There, to reach a rotting berry,
Toils a thrush -constrained to very
Dregs of food by sharp distress,
Taking such with thankfulness.
Why, O starving bird, when I
One day's joy would justify,
And put misery out of view,
Do you make me notice you?
I wish all my readers a happy holiday season with personal renewal and family enrichment.
