By the time you read this I will have made it home to spend Christmas with my mother. My nephew, who now attends school in Ontario, asked me if I wanted to drive home with him to Nova Scotia. We will have endured an 18-hour road trip, hopefully bad-weather free, to get there. I assured him I would bring the food. Several meals will be required on this day-long road trip.
This will be the first Christmas without my father who died suddenly in May. He always enjoyed Christmas and it seems like he should still be here with us to celebrate. He will be greatly missed. But that is the nature of life - constant change. I experienced many changes in my life in 2001, some like the death of my father, unexpected and unpleasant. But what can you do? You go on.
Recently, an internet oracle I consult frequently, said in his daily message, now that the holidays are on the way, he has been receiving numerous e-mail messages from readers who dread the holiday season. Christmas may have been an unpleasant time in their childhoods, one that brings back bad memories. They may feel no joy, but will feel obligated to act happy and carefree. They have money problems, but will overspend to maintain the status quo, which in turn only gets them deeper in debt and more depressed. They do not look forward to the family get togethers that inevitably lead to clashes and bad feelings. The holiday season for them cannot pass fast enough.
When I read this I thought again about how different we all are, how one person's happy Christmas is another's day of dread. As human beings, our differences are both our strength and the cause of much negativity and sorrow in the world.
One of the greeting cards I chose to send this year carries a simple message inside: "Peace on Earth". On the cover is a photograph of planet Earth, taken from space, blue against a black background. Earth seems so small from that perspective and human beings invisible, inconsequential. I suppose the message of the card is that we're all in this together, hanging on to a little blue ball, circling the sun. What happens on Earth affects all of us. We are not so very different.
Still, I know it is foolish to suggest that we can all love each other. But why can't we at least tolerate each other? Anger, bitterness and hatred require so much energy. It's a pity that same energy cannot be funneled into more productive emotions.
Go To Page: 1 2
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Kelly L. Henderson's Employment Satisfaction topic, please visit the Discussions page.