Street Christmas
Dedicated to the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity
The holidays when you're on the streets are long, empty days. It's super quiescent outdoors. No traffic, no people milling about.
Personally, I find the emptiness to be almost disconcerting.
As I walk through the streets, it is almost a given that you will see some child riding a shiny new bicycle, bundled up from the cold. It's a day of magic to a child.
With wild-eyed wonder, they pedal their bikes, usually only in the driveway, with a cautious parent watching over them.
Can you recall your Christmases past?
When you drive to Grandma's house on Christmas along the streets you always take, by now, I am certain you may see someone without a roof.
They didn't wake up to the sounds of joy or to the loving gaze of a romantic partner. They awoke, likely cold and typically alone.
Those people you see on the streets don't really have families. They most likely felt the joy of Christmas in their past. As most have. However, the joy is gone.
We are the children of Humanity, all of us. No matter what you believe or what you hold as the truth.
It represents something we all need to express, even if doing so makes us uncomfortable.
World War I actually stopped being fought on Christmas, where the combatants played soccer in the no-man's land between the Germans and the Allies.
No hatred. Just that little piece of joy in all of our collective hearts.
This Christmas, you have a moral obligation to forgive and forget any slights to your person. If you have homeless relatives, reach out to them. You don't have to stop the war between you and them.
You just have to remember that this day isn't like all the rest. Just as when you were a child, with your shiny new bike or radio-controlled car.
It's a day of magic.
BE THAT MAGIC.
For magic isn't real. It is only a function of love. Pure love with no conditions. Given as freely as a gift you'd give a child. Even if that gift was given under the pretext of a ruse.
For love, even if you love and have to lie to make it appear supernatural, your heart is in the right place.
I'm not asking you to do something difficult. All I am asking is that you make an effort. This Christmas, and from each one here on out, be that missing joy for those who are really just that child who woke up to nothing on Christmas.
Those little loving eyes that watch you intently. Their hearts are pure and simple. They don't know hatred, despair, or broken hearts.
I can almost be certain that the homeless person who woke up alone, even in a shelter full of people, or the person waking up in a jail cell, or even yourself, doesn't like to feel like this on Christmas.
A very wise man said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." That man didn't celebrate Christmas.
I say this instead—Be the love you want to see in this world. For only then will you have the magic within your soul to make that change.
Once you do, then every day is Christmas.
Merry Christmas!
Love to all, and to all, love.