Old Saint Nick, also known as Saint Nicklaus, and now, in the Western World as Santa Claus, was, like our present Pope Francis, who has given out sleeping bags to the homeless in Rome, Italy, personally, a person of action who role modeled generosity and empathy by bringing gifts to the poor. Some say it started with the secret gift of three gold coins to some poor children. Today there is so much poverty around the world, it's almost impossible to imagine any immediate answer to the suffering, which includes starvation of children born to die. I know I have it good here in the United States.
Walking my dog, I often encounter a woman who is sweet and kind and always begging. To my amazement she walked into a corner store that mostly sells liquor and asked a customer to give her $20 so that she could buy a Christmas tree. To my amazement this stranger gave her $10 towards her purchase. I told her where artificial trees were being sold at a good price, but she explained she was trying to raise $40 for a real tree, and then more money for lights and decorations, because she wanted to have a REAL CHRISTMAS. Well, one can have a REAL CHRISTMAS without a tree and lights and decorations, but I found it interesting what I was witnessing.
I don't want to loose my Christmas spirit of generosity and empathy, but I'm struggling to maintain a Christmassy attitude because the San Bernardino terrorist attacks seem to be EVEN MORE SENSELESS than the killings in PARIS. You see, these terrorists, whatever their religion, HAVE NO EMPATHY OR GENEROSITY OF SPIRIT.
They do not care about ending the lives of the innocent or making children orphans. They wish to spread fear and hatred, not love, understanding, tolerance, or kindness. There is no love left inside them, not even (in this case) for their own six month old child. They have not even thought about the KIND OF WORLD they are trying to create in which that child/children will have to live. They are establishing a TERRORIST STATE and it is a state in which the violence is so extreme (killing of babies born disabled - teaching children to chop off heads using dummies) that I believe it is devoid of ANY SPIRITUALITY whatsoever.
It's as if they had their very souls plucked out by demons.
After listening to radio reportage for hours and reading, again, many articles that report on the terrorists in PARIS, I learned that the man who lead the group had BEEN IN HUNGARY and RECRUITED TERRORIST HELP-MATES THERE, that these men had REFUSED TO REGISTER LAWFULLY WITHIN HUNGRY.
I realized that some of the Paris and the husband-wife couple San Bernardino terrorists seem to fall into the "he/she was such a nice, quiet person," category.
I looked at the pictures of this EVIL COUPLE that were available. At once I saw how dead, how zombie-like and hypnotized the eyes of the male shooter were. The female, not so much. Today the news is that it was the female who shot first, who was radicalized first, and that various Muslim organizations are distancing themselves from terrorism - or at least these two - both here and in other countries such as Pakistan. She was so "shy" that many people never saw her face or heard her speak, as she would not speak to men other than her husband but she was deadly. Is this Muslim or is this mentally ill?
Why are we even still using the term "radicalized" when something more and worse is happening?
Why is there civil war in Syria, why is the whole MIDDLE EAST a HELL ON EARTH? Why is the CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION the most barbaric part of the world?
So here I am, all ready to go to a Christmas concert at the local community college where a friend of mine is playing the trumpet, wearing a fancy purple evening jacket, and hoping that at least for a while, I can shut the terror out of my mind, reattach to my own spirit of Christmas, and continue to be generous and empathic.
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