Solstice minus 7

© harrington

One week from today is winter solstice and/or the end of the world if you accept that Mayan perspective. I don't so I haven't put off my Christmas shopping. I do think it could be a major improvement if next Friday marks the end of one era and the beginning of a better one in My Minnesota and the rest of the world. I just finished reading Terry Tempest Williams' The Open Space of Democracy, in which she argues that we as individuals, and as a community, need to be more respectful of each other and of the world in which we live. As a long-standing card-carrying liberal eco-type, I thought I was a pretty tolerant person. I think I still have lots of room for improvement on that front and others. Another writer that I'm coming to respect more and more is Rebecca Solnit. She wrote a letter that asks, and attempts to answer the question "Can lefty perfectionists ever be satisfied?" It struck home with me. As I thought about the points she raised, it occured to me that someone better than I once wrote something like: this tired old world, even with all its nicks and scratches, is still a pretty wonderful and very beautiful place. I should spend more time appreciating it as well as time trying to protect it. Please join me, especially if we make it to December 25th to celebrate Christmas. Maybe we will have reached an era of gratitude. In any case, as Pete Seeger and some of his friends say: Happy Solhanumas! (Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas)