Peace on Earth; Goodwill to Everyone

The big headline on the front page of the morning newspaper is about including more people in Christmas, and some people fearing that Christmas is going to be left out. My personal concern about the holiday is that it is too damned expensive. Christmas is one of the many problems of having a diverse population. Diverse beliefs don’t come so much from new people entering the country, but from people becoming more aware of new ways to believe, and questioning the old ways. That makes me one of the problems. I barely tolerate Christmas. One of my brothers does not tolerate it. Our father detested any secularization of Christmas. He was trying to get people to quit having Santa Claus in their churches.
We have learned to practice the acceptance of diversity in the workplace, but how do we get that going in our own family? How about if we pray, we pray in the name of goodness and compassion? At the last two family Thanksgiving dinners we had, I took charge of the prayer of thanksgiving, and thanked The Great Spirit, in Native American fashion. Praying to “goodness and compassion” would not make sense to some of the family, so perhaps “Great Spirit” is the best way to speak to the “Higher Power,” as the 12-steppers are prone to say. Perhaps we could start the prayer with “Dear Higher Power” and close with “in the names of goodness, kindness, and compassion.” This would be prayer that should include everyone.
I have come to accept and practice prayer at Thanksgiving; but, I have been thinking that all prayers should be prayers of giving thanks, or requests for healing. This is just speculation on my part, but wouldn’t thinking and acting along these lines be more inclusive of all of the creations of the Supreme Being or Great Spirit, or Higher Power? Maybe we should not publicly refer to the holiday season as “Christmas.” Christians can call it whatever they want in their own churches.
I have written our holiday-season letter, and have given it the headline, “Peace on Earth; Goodwill to Everyone.”

Discovered in Introspection

My Dear Friends:
My message to the world is this: Be kind and compassionate, and stop fighting over dogma and doctrines.
There are people who are kind and compassionate, but only to people of their own race, politics, or religion, so I have another message for the world. Accept diversity.
Our church fairly well follows my messages for the world. The church didn’t sell me on these ideas; I chose the church because it follows my message. Still, I am not entirely sold on Unity; but it is the best Christian church that I have ever encountered. If I didn’t have to satisfy my wife’s spiritual needs along with my own, I would probably go Buddhist. Unity is a compromise for us. This marriage runs on compromises, and so should the rest of the world.
I heard a man arguing against torture on TV yesterday. He used the words, “You can catch more flies with honey…” I tend to think that if I were tortured and survived it, I’d spend the rest of my life trying to get even. I think that evil doers would corrupt me and I’d become one of them in spite of my present orientation toward kindness and compassion. I would try to return to my kind and compassionate ways, but it would not be easy.
Even if there were not a Golden Rule, it is a fact that people will respond to kindness with kindness and will respond to pain and humiliation with retaliation. Kindness and compassion are the best policy. I say this from a strictly secular position.
It occurs to me that the best way to get people to be kind and compassionate is not by telling them to be, but by treating them with kindness and compassion, and being polite. People will also like you better if you have a positive mental attitude. What brings peace to our world is also what it takes to be successful in business. Treat people in a way that will make them like you. Sincerely, Albert