We’ve finally arrived at the shortest day and longest night of 2017, and starting tomorrow, the sun will begin its trek northward. You wouldn’t think that the tipping of the earth a mere 23+ degrees on its axis forward and back would make that much of a difference in our world’s climate, but we can certainly see how much it really does.
Many friends, clients, business associates, and acquaintances have asked me these past several weeks what my plans are for our long Christmas weekend. Pretty much all I’ve been telling them is that I’m just going to play it by ear, and whatever takes place over the weekend will be just fine by me. I’ll likely spend more time alone reflecting on delightful Christmas events that’ve taken place in years past.
It seems almost like yesterday when I used to be involved in two separate gatherings on Christmas. One would be with some long deceased friends I had who lived in a small town nearby, and the other with my Mother. The gathering/meal with my Mother was usually standard fare, while with my friends, it was almost always a meal with a definite Southern flair. The Mrs. was originally from south Louisiana who was transplanted here after marrying her life-long husband who was originally from Cedar Rapids.
Many in the Midwest don’t realize how our gene pools were “freshened up” after each major war ended. There were a great number of military personnel who would fall in love with a woman either overseas or right here in the States and would end up marrying and most often returning to the city and State where the soldier was originally from before enlisting or being drafted. Just remember, back in those times, the male was nearly always considered the bread winner.
The highlight of my day was writing an offer on a property listed by another office. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to get the buyer and sellers together, but just hoping it’ll happen. Now the downer of my day, was getting a call from a lender informing me a particular buyer who purchased a home I had listed through another agent was turned down. Urgh! In spite of having a pre-approval letter, I surmised there was an over-sight, or some intervening circumstance with that Realtor’s buyer causing it to be trashcaned. Oh well, onward and upward.
While driving from point A to point B during our shortest daylight hours, I suddenly started getting those crazy “What if?” thoughts in my head. Please don’t think me touched when reading the following questions that were popping to mind. What if, the 10 percent of our population which holds 90 percent of our world’s wealth would suddenly vanish? Would the remaining 90 percent decide it’s time to share and share alike, or would another 10 percent rise out of the masses? What if, all of a sudden youth was frowned upon and the aged regarded as role models? Would the young be shunned and ignored while the elderly were always in the lime light of society to where all the tabloids would be filled with dramas and intrigues taking place in our senior’s social circles, and senior sexual exploits being the rage? What if, we no longer had the ability to lie or conceal our real feelings whenever we spoke because our minds would force us to always speak the truth? Would our world suddenly become a better place, or would everyone cease communicating and begin leading solitary lives.
And lastly. What if, back in the 5th Century, all of Paul’s many letters contained in our present-day Bible were omitted, and replaced by the letters and gospels that were set aside or omitted? Would Christianity still be as we know it today, or would there be a lasting peace on earth and goodwill towards all? As you can see, I was having quite the “What if?” day. Try it. You may come up with some answers for age-old questions.
