Dickens ghosts could calm the storm

Interesting how an artist can do a career-defining work and lack the understanding at the time about how significant it will be. Charles Dickens produced lots of great stuff. I'm sure he wrote "A Christmas Carol" with the same spirit as always. An artist like Dickens taps into his usual wellspring. He is motivated by art, not a desire to become a household name. 

Celebrity can be a curse. Had the Beatles disbanded back before "Beatlemania," John Lennon would almost surely have gone on to live a great many years. I did not care for how the movie "Yesterday" had an actor portray Lennon as if he were still alive. It was too depressing. The manner in which Lennon died is something I don't even care to think about. 

The Dickens story "A Christmas Carol" actually served to prop up Christmas as a holiday, above where it had been. And we're all thankful? Seems like the Christmas holidays are disruptive as much as anything. Is there anything wrong with having our normal "routine?" Shut-ins and the elderly must feel more isolated than ever. "Meals on Wheels" gives out some canned items to help tide these people over. It's inferior to the usual service. 

Thanksgiving was bad enough: people who are alone are challenged to get by with decent meals. Plus there's the depression one is likely to feel, just knowing that a typical cute young family is getting together with an abundance of food and festivity. The holidays are clearly for them, not the shut-ins. 

The suspension of normal business, by itself, is an inconvenience for many. It's not as if we know when exactly Christ's "birthday" is. We don't, not even close. It's arbitrary. 

Public institutions go into contortions not to acknowledge anything religious. This is quite justified, as there are many Jews and other non-Christians among us. Trying to treat "Hanukkah" as equal is not a solution. Religion should stay as a private thing. Bill O'Reilly used to clamor to the contrary, but then the blowhard had to pay something like $32 million to a woman, Lis Wiehl, to avoid a sexual harassment lawsuit. This is not a spokesman for Christianity that I would want to accept. 

Ghost of Christmas yet to come

It would be nice to think that the Dickens ghosts of Christmas past, present and future could visit Donald Trump and make him wake up in the morning as a cheer-filled, altruistic and uplifting soul.  But certainly we must all acknowledge, even many of Trump's supporters, that such a scenario is off the table. Trump couldn't even act the part. He and his cohorts today are nothing but angry, simply flailing away using foul language like the "f" word toward anyone who their whims suggest should be a target. 

I'm depressed this Christmas because, if the Republican Party is really going to be so powerful, why can't we have a First Family like Ronald and Nancy Reagan? They'd project the fundamental cheer of the season. Not like Trump, who in recent days has called General Mark Milley a "fucking idiot" and said of Israel's political figure Benjamin Netanyahu, "fuck him." 

I cannot dissuade many of my Stevens County friends from their reverence toward Trump, one of the strangest phenomena I have observed in my life. These people go to church. And it's fine to have faith, beyond science some even, but cult-like allegiance is dangerous beyond words. 

I sense the cult-like allegiance among the local Apostolics. Oh, but they have no monopoly on this. A great many local residents join hands with them on this. They got Collin Peterson tossed out of office in favor of a challenger who would not vote to certify election results. And we slide into the 2021 Christmas season with these realities around us. 

Don't you shudder about what America will be like a few years down the road? When Republicans will have "rigged" the system so we end up with "sham" elections of the type normally associated with dysfunctional places around the globe? Are you prepared to instruct your children about what Fascism is, and how we may fall into such a system, sooner rather than later, with Trump's foul mouth resonating across the land? Are you all proud of yourselves? 

The ghosts of Christmas past, present and future could do much to remedy our state of affairs, were they to make the rounds. The ghost of Christmas future could warn us of the ominous road ahead, perhaps reflecting Nazi Germany itself. It would be a warning, a "firebell in the night." But it's only lodged in my own dreams as I try to say a prayer for humanity. Merry Christmas? We'll see.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com