Samhain Winter Moon
We’re in the dark period of the year, the time when the Winter Solstice stands out even among long nights as longer and deeper. Tonight, all Solstice eve, it’s 4:30 pm and twilight fell a while ago. Snow comes down, adding to an inch or so to what we got over last night, all accumulating on top of the snows of early December.
Let me demonstrate how odd my religious situation is. When my doctor, Corrie Massie, asked me what plans I had for Christmas, without thinking, I said, “We’re Jewish.” Now we’re Jewish in that I support Kate’s Judaism, but what I really meant was, “I don’t celebrate the Christian holiday.” Didn’t want to start with the whole theological narrative in my doctor’s office so my unconscious answered. Not a lie, just not the whole truth.
No elevator speech for following the rhythmic cycles of nature, for celebrating not transcendence but immanence. No quick way to say I’m an outlier here, too, standing on the margins of religion. So often I find myself in conversations where I just don’t want to go through the whole analysis to explain myself.
Yes, too much carbon dioxide is, will be a problem. The unseemly gathering of wealth threatens the fabric of our culture. No, I’m not really a Democrat and am planets away from Republicans. Tea Party? Different universe. No, I don’t use pesticides. Yes, we grow a lot of our own food and keep bees. Oh, and I have a son in the Air Force who now has aspirations to become a general officer, to make sure authentic folks have their say. No, mining minerals on the border of the Boundary Waters Wilderness does not make sense. Socialism and single-payer health 
care? Sign me up. I’m glad China and the rest of Asia have begun to grow strong. I love the U.S.A. Cable television? Cut the cord. That sort of thing.
I guess I’m at an age where I’m living the life I chose and choose, yet no longer have that evangelical zeal for my decisions. Maybe because I recognize more and more how many right answers there are.
