The tribe

I've been reading a bit of The Apple Branch by Alexei Kontratiev.  I like the fact that he says that the Celts have been Christian for centuries, so it's kind of silly to be into Celtic stuff but be anti-Christian.  But then I don't like where he goes after that.  He defines Tribe as people who speak a common language.  Then he goes on to say therefore, if you are interested in Celtic stuff, you should learn a Celtic language.  I would think that the same logic he used with regard to Christianity would apply here --for many Celts, English is their native language now.

I don't like it when people get fixed in their mind that one particular moment in history is the correct one, that the people who lived in that place and time are the true natives of that land, and anyone who came after was an intruder.  The reality is that human history is a history of migration and cultural change.

Some of my ancestors came to North America from England.  Some take the attitude you English should not have come, you should go back where you came from.  But people from England, they had ancestors too, they had Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Celts, Romans, Normans.  Yes, at one time in history some of my ancestors lived in England, but they lived in other places before that, and they lived in New England after that.  Why pick on England as the place where my people are truly from?  That kind of thinking is a narrow view, that does not grasp the way cultures shift through history.

Wrapping Christmas presents

Wrapping Christmas presents.  Doing it the way my family has done it as long as I can remember.  We re-use the paper year after year.  To make it re-usable, we don't use tape, just ribbons, which of course are also re-used year after year.  Labels can also be re-used, or can be made from old Christmas cards.  You use a hole punch to make a hole in the label, and then you put the ribbon through it.

It was nice, wrapping with care something chosen for a particular person.

I've been so harried. It has been a long time since I've done anything like this.

I like to put attention into doing something for others.

I used to have people over for dinner sometimes.  That was the same sort of thing.

Also, it brought back to me that when I was a kid, I always liked to have on hand things like construction paper, glue, glitter, stickers, markers, crayons, and hole punches.  There always seemed to be a need for them.

Now I never use such things.  I think that at some point I learned that I am not good at that sort of thing.

It's a shame that we are not supposed to do things we aren't good at  -- crafts, drawing, cooking, singing, dancing.  People who do such things with no skill get scoffed at.  But the purpose of doing such things should not be to demonstrate skill.  The purpose of doing such things should be to spark joy and imagination in the person doing them.

My mother loves to sing, especially around Christmas.  She feels she can't sing around my brother and sister-in-law, because they are professional musicians.

It's sad, when singing is silenced.

After wrapping presents, I visited the computer.  On Facebook I saw a photo of presents which my brother and sister-in-law were wrapping for their kids.  I wrapped presents for their kids tonight.  My presents can never be as good as theirs, because they are with their kids all the time so know best what to get them.

I want to give gifts, prepared with care.  But it's sad to know that my gifts will always be inferior.

I think my parents at least will like the gifts I give to them.

Knowledge and practicality

I heard  the professors talking.  They know a lot, but it's esoteric. They just like to explore ideas.  They don't care that it has no practical value.

I heard the activists talking.  They are passionate about the state of the world.  They have strong opinions.  They think they know a lot about their issue, but they've just read a few books, just looked at it from one point of view.

Once in a while someone comes along who combines a professor's depth and breadth of knowledge with an activist's vision for what is important for the welfare of the world.

I would like that combination to come about more often.  That's one reason I'm interested in education and librarianship.

I need to learn to talk to strangers

They teach kids not to talk to strangers.  I've never un-learned that lesson.

Three of my siblings have significant others.  They are nice and I want to welcome them to the family.  But I don't talk to them.  I want to, but I don't know how.  So I just smile at them to make up for it, and say positive things about them in their presence when I'm talking to my sibling.

Talking to strangers is a skill I  need to develop.

Happy solstice

I re-posted one of the things going around Facebook that said don't be offended if someone says Merry Christmas and you aren't Christian, or if they say Happy Holidays and you are Christian, just appreciate that they are wishing you well.  I believe that.  But when people wished me happy solstice, I felt warm inside.  I felt like "how did they know?" since I don't talk about my druidry.  But I don't think it's that they knew.  I think it's that solstice is their holiday too.  So I don't think they really knew that solstice is the holiday closest to my heart, but it sill warmed my heart that they spoke the way they would speak if they did know.

I wish more people could live with imperfection

There is an attitude in our culture that you can have anything you want if you just pursue your dreams.  I detest that attitude.  If I mention any aspect of my life that is not fully perfect, people start lecturing me about what I should do to reform myself.

I have one friend I can talk to, someone who, having lived with much hardship, understands that life is not perfect.  With everyone else, I've learned to hold back on expressing my dissatisfactions.

Now, if you are, like most people, wanting to reform me, at this point, you will say that I just have to be better at communicating with others, telling them when I want sympathy rather than advice.  And if you are like most people, you say that without having any idea what attempts I have already made to communicate with people.  People try to oblige for a few minutes, but then they revert back to their instincts and start reforming me again.  And I get tired of trying to explain what I want over and over.

Leaders as gardeners

A good leader or teacher is like a gardener.  It's about finding the seed of potential within a person and nursing it into blossoming.  A bad leader or teacher treats people as blank slates, attempting to drill things into them and extract certain behaviors out of them.