He humbles those - December 2

So by their fruits you will know them. Matthew 7:20

The busy schedule of holiday parties, family dinners, pageants with religious themes, ballets of seasonal favorites is confusing for most people. An event is somehow always missed.

November nights melt into December days. Life swings back and forth, back and forth between altercation, alteration, and celebration. People lose patience, gain anxiety. Eyes become the engine, the locomotive pulling individual into this store, onto this internet page. Wants masquerades as needs. Luxury masquerades as necessity.

This is sometimes a noisy, frightening time of quiet, interior terror.

The point is that the locomotive somehow travels to places not on the itinerary, travels to places that are unapproved and sometimes dangerous for us. not what account we are going to charge the lost locomotive to," I continued. "It is how you happened to lose it."

All the egg nog, all the fruit cake, all shiny, bright decorations can not hide the asperity, the distance, the angst, the fear which keeps people apart. This is a time to be tired, to be nervous, to be chattering and singing. This is the time to listen before speaking.

As a matter of fact this is the time be a loyal locomotive trying to remain on schedule .

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November and December holidays direct our gaze to a specific point. The metaphor using a locomotive implies movement without explanation, without presumption. November and December are all about moving people around, moving things from a to b. This is a time of being personal, of being thankful, of being hopeful. It is a time of tangerines, poinsettias, clemtines, fruitcake. It is the time of the locomotive; the time of motion and emotion, of love and loving, of offering and receiving. It is a the time of finger foods, finger-licking, finger-pointing. Lunch is often overshadowed by the advance of carving stations of turkey, beef, ham; bite-sized quiche, jumbo shrimp, vegetables slices of festive seasonal colors.

Many questions remain unanswered.

Depending upon the individual's perspective, temperment, and sobriety there is much to lambast, much to criticize, much to describe as lost between hype and hyperbole.

But nothing manmade is all good, nothing manmade is all bad. Trouble is always waiting. There will always be cynical, sarcastic, bitter comments. There will always be warm, fresh apple pies to counter them. Enjoy the season. Accept the kisses and handshakes and the smiling "Happy Holiday", or the drawling "Merry Christmas" and the smirking "Happy New Year" when they are offered. Repeat them if possible with all that is good, all that is kind, and all that is honest within you. This is not a season to grow cynical. This is not a season to nurture a bilious vision of discord and misdeeds within any imagination. Be like a loyal locomotive moving from station to station, moral to morale, ethic to eccentric; a force for goodness, kindness, charity.

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The metaphor of the locomotive is whimsical, old fashioned.

Modernity often prefers to offer the battle of simplicity versus hypocrisy.

The time from Thanksgiving to New Year's should be a more somber time of reflection, thanks, and hopefulness.

It should be a time of social sobriety, delicate propriety, and gentle silence.

Everyone who has a cynical thought would have to eat two or three tangerines.

And create a new metaphor for goodness, kindness, and hope.

Good spelling and proper grammar must be used.

Finding and developing and sharing a good metaphor is a difficult task. I am going to hitch a few private cars to a locomotive going south.