Feliz Navidad

Once more, Christmas has come upon us. Christmas of 2008, the year which has proven to be truly a year where anything can happen and most likely will. Yesterday, was another Christmas Eve, living up to its reputation, to me anyway, of being the longest day of the year. From still having to go to work, to having to stay at work a little after when the boss told us to go on home (11:30am) to wait for some FedEx package that I ended up giving up on, to finishing the wrapping of presents, to annoying family, to briefly stopping by a party being held by my mom’s Greek friend (i.e. there were like 100 people there and a fuckton of Greek food!), to getting to the late night Christmas Eve church service where I totally wore my Santa hat the whole time!

And an amazing thing happened.

Well, okay, it’s not that amazing. Anyway, near the end of the service, after communion, came time to sing Silent Night. Usually, with the lights low and everyone holding candles and the general mood of it, one can get a little emotional and teary-eyed. Not this time!

Good. Getting emotional like that is a minor loss of self control. Instead of the message being an emotional one, now the same tune and words, they brought happiness and a smile. Why? Emotions are weakness and a vulnerability. What good is being an emotional idiot over some religious passage? None. Instead, the words meant pretty much nothing, and there was merely a triumphant smile.

Yeah, Jesus is born, here to save us, blah blah blah… whatever. I do what I want. So I’m happy! And it’s the only way good can get done regardless of motivation. It’s a nice story, sure, and whether or not it’s true doesn’t really matter that much to me. That’s all fine and good, but the real question is what specifically I’m supposed to do about it. If anything, no different from what is done already. So what difference does it make?

Okay, one difference. And I’d rather be happy and smiling.

Merry Christmas!