Christmas is famously supposed to transcend everything. There's the famous World War II incident where soldiers on both sides ended up at the home of a woman who insisted that because of Christmas, there be no conflict. Linda Hamilton played the role of the woman in a dramatization. A German soldier who had rudimentary medical training sewed up a wound. At the end of it all, the soldiers headed back to their respective "lines."
The vignettes pose the question: why could not the Christmas spirit pervade our lives well beyond the boundaries of the holiday season? We ask, we shrug, we go back to accepting our mortal reality, n'est-ce pas?
Swords into plowshares? I grew up during the nightmare of Vietnam. We sought a bright spirit with the annual Bob Hope TV Christmas specials from Vietnam. There he was with his golf club and his shtick which might have been helpful in WWII. Vietnam was so different and yet the older people wanted us to behave as if we supported the "war effort" like in the '40s.
Bob Hope brought out nubile women who at the time, through a sexist lens, were supposed to get the men salivating. I don't think anyone used the word "misogyny" then. You'd go scurrying to the dictionary, a print dictionary. The word is used in a very constructive way today, to scold and to point a way forward.
The Hope specials failed if their intent was to make us look aside from the horrors of that war. Their attempts at escape were eerily off-base. Consider the Vietnam war, a horrendous pain, a blight on our nation's history, and yet there was Bob Hope, his golf club, with Raquel Welch in front of a sea of servicemen. The camera panned around and caught random servicemen laughing vigorously at the jokes.
The Hope specials just disappeared at a certain point. No admitting of what a folly the war had been. The shtick just disappeared, and then eventually we got the scenes from the fall of Saigon, the people clinging to helicopters to get the hell out of there, helicopters being pushed off ships to make room for more of those fleeing. It is fortunate that the scenes are preserved on video. Also nice to see the video of the Hope specials preserved so we can absorb the times.
Meanwhile away from the whole war milieu, we had such innocent and happy annual Christmas specials on TV for us boomer kids to enjoy. Andy Williams, Dean Martin, Perry Como. The guys had talent but they were clinging to a dated age. It was a patriarchal society. Certainly the door was not open for non-whites the same way as for whites. The impression of racial harmony was superficial, really just orchestrated.
No one wished to admit any racial animus. The reality lurked in the background. We have a president yet today who talked about "good people on both sides" of the Charlottesville thing. Coupled with the pandemic, it really is hard absorbing the holiday spirit. I'd argue we are largely pretending. Going through the motions? To be frank, yes. I'm just trying to call a spade a spade.
I have personally held my own with at least pretending: look at the lights out in front of my house on Northridge Drive. Frankly we've had a "keeping up with the Joneses" challenge in our cheery neighborhood. In our case it's the House family, not Jones, really setting the standard. They are new residents and they really set an example with holiday decorations. So, they can be cited in my own commitment of making a stride or two forward. (Has the "Joneses" expression become dated/obsolete? Are kids exposed to it? Has it gone the way of the "dunce cap?")
Looming concern
I cannot get into a truly elevated mood - impossible - until we can be sure that Trump leaves the White House. The odds seem high now he will in fact be forced to leave, but I'm just not so sure. We have an attorney general who is having to bail with just a month left of the Trump thing. Why? One month at the end of a lame duck period? He can't just tough it out? To do his job? What is he so scared of? What is he afraid might be coming down the pike?
This is a man, William Barr, who has gone way out of his way to accommodate Trump. And now even he can't take it any more? What will Trump do in Barr's absence? Will Trump insert someone in league with the kind of people who came to surround Hitler? You think it can't happen? The great Sinclair Lewis, of course from Sauk Centre MN, wrote a book called "It Can't Happen Here." (The point being, it can.)
There is a giant "welcome sign to Morris" out by the highway in between Subway and Greeley Plumbing. I say it's a welcome sign to Morris because it seems to reflect this community's general feeling. It's so prominent, noticed by so many people. The sign reads "Trump-Pence." The people responsible for the sign haven't given up on behalf of their autocratic leader yet.
Who owns that land? The city? Greeley Plumbing? Some Apostolics? Some questions should be asked.
Addendum: Regarding the ushering of people of color into TV, I'm reminded of Elston Howard being Jimmy Dean's guest for the black and white TV show. Howard was the first player of color with the Yankees. He should not have been the first, the first should have been Vic Power. Problem with Vic, was that he did not have a restrained or conservative enough personality (subservient?) to suit the powers that be. He could be flamboyant - he could be original. He didn't understand racism because he was from Puerto Rico, he was not from the Southern U.S.
Vic of course came to our Minnesota Twins and was our team MVP in 1962 when we finished second behind the Yankees. He would "sweep" his glove after making many catches at first base. Some say that was hot-dogging but he saw it as practical technique. He is remembered as one of the best fielding first basemen of all time.
Howard? The player/author Jim Bouton originally portrayed the guy as sort of an uncle Tom, then in later years when he mellowed or saw things more fairly, he did a turnaround. Howard was a fine player and person.
My podcast for December 19
So, Christmas is nearly here. My "Morris Mojo" podcast for this December 19 advises that our current restrictions are for the purpose of trying to keep us at home. Just don't be tempted to circulate. It's painful but something we must accept, for now. You might be visited by an angel of the Lord for Christmas. Please visit my "Morris Mojo" and thanks:
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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