By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
Said the night wind to the little lamb
Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky little lamb
Do you see what I see?
A star, a star
Dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite
With a tail as big as a kite
“Do You Hear What I Hear”
Music by Gloria Shayne Baker, lyrics by Noël Regney
You read this on Christmas Eve, and for me, this is the big push: the feasting, the gift opening, the celebrating. When my kids were little, Santa would leave one big present under the tree on Christmas morning, but by family tradition, tomorrow will be about cooking and leisure. Tonight, on the eve of the event itself, the secular portion of Christmas will play out once again. In Jude tradition, the sacred portion of Christmas — the expectation of Divine love enfolding us, deep gratitude to Spirit for the birth of transcendent possibility and the palpable presence of Higher Angels — happens every day. That’s been my practice and goal for decades. It may also be why I’m sappy about this particular season, when everyone shares a bit of that expectation.
After a year like the one we’ve endured, a quiet moment of reflection — preferably with my feet up — is just what the doctor ordered. But life continues to be fast-tracked, so I’m hoping to find that quiet moment in the next few days. You too? Perhaps you’ve developed a tolerance for the hectic, as have I, even for that hint of winged chaos that perches on the sharp edge of hysteria. I remember those halcyon days when five or six situational fire drills and quasi-emergencies a day — day after day, week after week — would have been unthinkable, even impossible; now, it’s just Tuesday, or Wednesday or whatever. Humans have an amazing capacity to adapt. It’s all grist for the evolutionary mill and another day in paradise.
Politics, even the current sideshow, can apparently no longer startle me. I suppose that’s how it works after you’ve tasted the little cake marked “Eat Me” and played croquette with the Red Queen; at least that’s how it feels. I think Sarah Palin’s candidacy was the last time my mouth flew open in real shock, and that was ages ago. Oh, the headlines are still titillating. I was kind of surprised that little Kim took a powder, not so surprised that Boehner couldn’t control his “patriots” so that the entire nation was forced to watch the Tea Party’s mental midgets take the GOP down in a stranglehold.
Ron Paul, one-trick-pony Libertarian candidate who is always complaining that he can’t get press coverage, walked out on a CNN interview rather than defend his racist newsletters, and Pappy Bush, once again faced with a roster of idjits, came out for Romney as the only reasonable candidate in 2012. Nothing shocking there. That the press is reporting a credible defense for Brad Manning, that’s newsworthy. That the GOP’s attempt at suicide helps the lefties — that’s good news, too.