“I See His Blood Upon the Rose…”
Tonight’s HyTown Vignette needs to start a different way…
It’s brought to you by Vince Guaraldi and I kindly suggest you press play and listen as you read this. A little Vince never harmed a soul… is always good for the digestion and those frazzled post-Christmas-shopping nerves.
“It” is something so common we often forget to recognize it.
By this time most of us are done with the mad rush of parking and checkout counters… congratulations, you’ve made it! (But what in the world is “it?”)
[Press play]
“It” is the celebration of the birth of Christ. One of the most exceptional and influential philosophers in the history of mankind...
… but for many of us he's much more than that.
For so many of us he's Jesus Christ, the Son of God.. the Alpha and Omega... the second person of the Holy Trinity... Lord and Savior...
The divine ruler of all things seen and unseen...
Yes, the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End...
It's a lot to explain, especially in a HyannisNews.com article... so I won't detain nor hold it against those who don't understand.
The point is that for so many of us Christmas is the celebration of the birth of someone and something we love more than anything else.
It's our time to rejoice and recognize something so ever-present and common we often forget to recognize it...
… we often fail to recognize the fact that there are always remarkable positive forces at work... 365... 24/7...
Whether you believe in The Christ or not, most spiritually advanced souls will concede that there are always many unseen forces on the move in our daily lives...
And on a very basic level, the true meaning of Christmas is to recognize that these daily forces are more often positive and loving than not...
HyannisNews.com spends a great deal of time and energy reporting on seemingly negative tragic events.
Christmas is a time to recognize that “negative tragic events” are much rarer than the good, that's why we call them “news” when they happen. They are anomalies and perhaps indicators that something is not right.
News sources run these anomalies because people find them both interesting and informative... and maybe also because they're a confirmation that our own lives are not nearly as bad... or in other words, somebody always has it tougher than we do. Some of us are grateful for that...
Besides, if HyannisNews.com only ran "good news" - news that really isn't so rare when you think about it- I would only have two readers, my mom and my dad...
… but I digress.
More on topic, Christmas is basically a time to recognize the good that is constantly being born all around us... even in the midst of tragedy...
Last night I covered a real tragedy where a 50-year-old woman was killed... it was truly sad... but there is much more to the story.
What I failed to point out is the instantaneous response of selfless first responders who jumped in and tried to revive someone they likely had never met before...
… on-duty or off-duty, paid or unpaid, cop, firefighter, or civilian, Christmas is a time to recognize the Christ-like positive forces that drive complete strangers to drop everything to help one another.
Christmas is also the time to recognize the two homeless men I recently overheard sitting on a nearby bench. One was out of cigarettes and money... the other was without money and down to his last cigarette...
Oh sure, they had the clothes on their backs... and possibly a spot at the shelter when the sun went down...
Christmas is a time to recognize that homeless man who took his very last cigarette, divided it in half, and shared it with his friend. Talk about being generous! I bet many of us forget that someone who seemingly has nothing can be more generous than all the "beyond-wealthy" philanthropists lumped together.
Today I was fortunate to receive an unexpected early Christmas gift. Probably one of the best gifts I've received in a very long time.
It came from a man I had written about on Hyannis News.
He had been arrested for something and I had photos of the whole thing... far away and tight, I had caught every last embarrassing detail.
His face had been plastered on the internet for the entire world to see. He wasn't proud of it and had every right to be less than pleased with me for doing such a fine job getting his face on camera.
When he first approached me I didn't know what to expect... but was quickly put at ease when I saw he looked much better than the last time I saw him.
He knew me and I knew him, although we never had formally met.
Today we formally met and I was happy to hear that he was doing much better. I was also happy to hear that he had his own side of the story and was able to report things were much better for everyone else in his life these days.
I thanked him for his side of the story and felt I needed to tell him I try not to judge... I try to just report, inform, and sometimes entertain...
It was then he reached out and gave me a big Christmas hug and told me it was nice to meet me.
*****
Tonight's Christmas reflections were also inspired by one of my favorite Irish poems:
I See His Blood Upon the Rose
by Joseph Mary Plunkett
I see his blood upon the rose
And in the stars the glory of His eyes,
His body gleams amid eternal snows,
His tears fall from the skies.
I see his face in every flower;
The thunder and the singing of the birds
Are but His voice -- and carven by His power
Rocks are His written words.
All pathways by His feet are worn,
His strong heart stirs the ever-beating sea,
His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn,
His cross is every tree.
*****
Merry Christmas my dear Christian and non-Christian readers. Christmas is for all of us to some degree or another...
… may God bless and keep us all.
12/24/2013
Robert Bastille, HyannisNews.com
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