My favorite time of year is Thanksgiving…because it involves good food and a few friends. I take part in Thanksgiving at a local restaurant in Boothbay Harbor where the price of the meal is a direct donation to one of several charities. I always donate to the food bank. I go and I usually find someone I know there to sit with and then I give forty bucks for the food and give the waitress twenty bucks. It feels good to give away money and to join others in the act; the way it should be.
I like the way that Thanksgiving lingers in the mind long after November 25th. I hang onto it as long as possible. Christmas is the next noticeable event for me. I am not Christian but I was raised in a family of Christians as a young person. I only recently began to identify as a atheist. Not out of any resentment or anger but certainly out of disappointment and maybe a certain level of clarity.
Over the years I have been disappointed by the lack of protection afforded humans and other species from the god that has been advertised as our maker. I never really felt protected, only threatened by consequences according to my own behavior. I’ve seen no correlation, no direct effect of a super power in my life by any being considered to be a god. I’ve had tragedy and major disappointment that could have been averted if the god, as advertised, had been real.
I’m not going any further with this. It’s just an explanation, brief, of how I think and act toward Christmas and other beliefs this time of year.
If there is a symbol of my belief it would be the holly leaves and berries. My favorite icon of this season to be sure.
I enjoyed painting holly leaves and berries on the front windows of the houses I occupied back in my Navy days. I would paint on the inside of the windows with poster paints using layering so that the front of the image would go on first and then layer upon layer of the image would go on next and next. The shiny parts of the leaves and berries were applied to the glass first and so forth. It really looked nice and brightened the windows and my spirits as well. The paints washed off easily when the season was over.
I don’t put up lights either. That might be something else I could do next year. I sort of miss the decorating part. I’ll have to give it some thought.
This is a small offering for today, this season. I fill a need to publish something. I hope you are able to find peace in this moment. I am going to add a poem that I was inspired to write last year. It’s about people going to a shelter for comfort and food. A photo of their footprints intermingling sent me into my imagination and into empathy and love. It may be a repeat from when I wrote it last February. Happy Holidays!
G. M. Goodwin
23 December 2015
FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW
At the Shelter
A pallet of chill
On a cement world,
Overspread with snow,
Fresh as a morning breeze,
That lowers the core
Temperature toward zero.
People shuffle, trudge along
Toward a gateway for heat,
Small steps, small hopes,
Edging away or toward,
Unsure, candles within
Struggle against desperation.
A story written with soles,
Prints in the snow,
One by one by two and three,
All mingle and mask to share,
Their presence on record to
Pronounce our ignorance.
Where do they go and
Why do we let them,
Hold out the gift to these
Who press their signatures,
Hold them close and then
Closer.
G.M. Goodwin
10 February 2015
Playing Fair and Being Kind 