Hack...cough...wheeze!

Anybody got a tissue?

      So here I sit just weeks before Christmas with a nasty cold.  My head hurts, my chest hurts and I can't breath very well.  This is not that uncommon an occurrence for me over the past few years.  Contracting Diabetes pretty much shot my immune system to hell.  Now I am not "always sick" like my wonderful wife likes to claim, but I do get sick a lot more often then I did when I was younger.  Much like I usually do when I am sick and miserable, I am pondering the world around me especially since the is the "Gimmee gimmee Season."

     Now before anyone starts to grumble about me kvetching about greedy people forgetting what the season is supposed to be about, don't panic.  I already did that blog on my Sometimes Its Okay To Be An Ass blog site.  If you want to hear the griping, go over there.

     Ponder this holiday season for a minute.  In the span of one month, you have three holidays.  One is very old, Hanukkah.  One is middling old, Christmas.  One is fairly new, Kwanzaa.  (Yes I know, the traditions of Kwanzaa can be dated back a very long time, but the actual Holiday was first created in 1966 which makes it younger than me by 3 years.)  All three of them have radical different origins, but really all three of them are basically about the same thing.  They all celebrate life, faith and renewal.  (Also presents, don't forget the presents!)

     People love to focus on all the things that make us different.  They cry that people will never really get along because we have no middle ground.  Pundits and Critics say that (Insert Religious/Racial Group here) will never be accepted because they aren't like everyone else.  Everyone seems to focus on differences and completely ignore the ways we are alike.

     This season, we have three excellent examples of just how alike we are staring us right in the face.  Three oftentimes radically different cultures all celebrating life, the universe and everything during the same time.  If we can all party at the same time once every year, isn't it just possible that we could manage it the other 11 months of the year?  

         

Happy Chrisnazaaakah Everyone