A Christmas Carol

A Christmas carol evokes something within me that harkens to a simpler time; to that now lost period of naiveté; of my childhood. It was a comfortable period and everything thing seemed simple then. All my needs were met and I had few profound questions. And the questions I had I truly didn’t know the answers to. Today, I sometimes find myself evading questions for fear of the answers, because deep inside, I know the answers. I repress the questions because I know that the answers will demand solutions. And solutions will take work. And work involves commitment and follow-through. And I don’t even know were to begin.

I like listening to a Christmas carol. It’s a comfortable blanket that momentarily shields me from the truth. It shields me from the reality of life: War, hate, violence, poverty, AIDS, cancer, bigotry, domestic violence, murder, genocide, homelessness, mental illness, depression, rape, death by pure accident, death by injection, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, mudslides, our collective, horrid history, etcetera, etcetera.

A Christmas carol gives me a moment to become lost in thought about the fleeting preciousness and beauty of youth; a moment to forget what I have learned and know and suspect; a brief moment without responsibility or guilt. A moment of bliss and innocence.

John Brzezinski