Some reflections for the Christmas season

As I've thought about the problems that America and the world faces right now, the more serious problems in finding resolution around them, and why so many good people keep facing so many dead ends...

I have become convinced that most of the problems that good people face and that persist are the consequence of well-intentioned efforts that don't go well. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and all that.

All over the world you see people do ugly things in the name of some cause with some notion of good purpose that resonates with others. Even terrorism and communism and authoritarianism have someone making excuses for why their ugliness are in the name of a good cause.

And if this were the exception, rather than the rule, then they would be alone in that distinction.
But they're not.

We all rationalize all kinds of things in the name of doing good. We make excuses for why we're such shitheads to one another for one good cause or another. We're all a lot of well-intentioned folks who too often fuck with one another's lives in the name of doing good by people. We do a lot of good for one another, too, to be sure. But we also undermine a lot of good in the name of good intentions. There are many noble intentions, I'm convinced. And all those noble intentions get fucked up by the rationalization of " by any means necessary," as Brother Malcolm would say.

What we need this Christmas and Hanukah and Kwanzaa and New Year is what we need every holiday time. We need more love. We need more understanding. We need more people walking in other peoples' shoes. We need more thought and engagement and communication and willingness to consider that we might be wrong or that we might not understand the world or other peoples' situations, enough. We need more decency and generosity and humanity.

We need a lot more of the very values that we know are our highest values.

And this is a great time to celebrate those values.

During a season that celebrates the birth of a man who led Jews and Christians and Romans and many others for millenia after his life toward a vision of love and compassion. During a season when Jewish leaders challenged a Syrian state that imposed its more Greek-inspired cultural values and stood for religious freedom and integrity. During a season that celebrates strengths and purpose in the African-American community. And the renewing of a new year and a new season.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Happy Hanukah. Happy Kwanzaa. Happy New Year.

Love,
Ben