CULLMAN —
Great expectations fill our minds with the arrival of Christmas Day. Peace on earth. Good will. Joy. Happiness. Anticipation of a Happy New Year.
The world contradicts our hope. Tragedy and despair, from the Middle East to Newtown, Conn., fill the news. But Christmas is not a promise that evil will take a holiday or that all will be peaceful for a moment in time.
From the birth of Christ in a lowly manger, the message to the world was hope — a promise of a better way of living and a pathway to an eternity free of the world’s trappings and misfortunes. Even the horrors of the world, in that time long ago and today, do not erode the promise that was fulfilled in Bethlehem.
Much of what is good in the world has its foundation in Christmas. The spirit of charity, which extends well past the holiday season, gets an extra boost from Christmas.
The march of time has not altered the meaning of Christmas; we simply don’t stop long to remember. Presents must be bought and wrapped, large quantities of food consumed, and tiring rounds of visits to family and friends are squeezed into a single day.
But the dawning of Christmas did not decree the lush expectations we have created through the years. Nor does the date forbid such an outpouring of love.
Even for the tired and the grieved, Christmas — at its core — remains a moment of hope that can be carried forward throughout life. The greater author, Charles Dickens, quaintly illustrated this spirit through Ebeneezer Scrooge, a miserable old man who found love and joy and lived those qualities for the remainder of his days.
If that spirit lives in more hearts, then Christmas will always bring joy and peace in the face of the most difficult times.
Opinion
EDITORIAL: Christmas all the time
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And sometimes when both parents are sitting down to do these at the end of the day one does start to wonder whether it might be easier if one parent did the working and the other did everything else.
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COMMENTARY: How Nonprofits Came to Acquire Their Tax-Exempt Status
The uproar over allegations of politically motivated investigations by the Internal Revenue Service shouldn't be surprising given Americans' long love affair with nonprofits and their strong disdain of partisanship, especially within bureaucracies.
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As of early April, you can walk into Walgreens in 18 states (plus D.C.), and along with a gallon of skim milk, a pair of photo mugs, a six-pack of toilet paper, and a flu shot, you can meet your new primary care provider, get your cholesterol checked, pick up your statin, and schedule a return visit.
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The firing Wednesday of Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice, for shoving players around, firing basketballs at them and screaming that they were "faggots" and "fairies," reflects universal condemnation.
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COMMENTARY: Who's to blame for our politics? Don't ask
There is a classic "Doonesbury" cartoon, published soon after the Vietnam War ended, in which the antiwar activist Mark Slackmeyer is arguing with his pro-war father.
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Ian Rizzio was a 24-year-old mechanical engineering student in Portland, Ore., managing a sandwich shop to pay his tuition. One day he woke up sick but went to work anyway, as he later testified to the Portland City Council.
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