MOEBIUS1.ORG

MOEBIUS MUSINGS
                              by Kevin Smant
 

The last day of 2003 finds the weather sunny and really unseasonably
mild (a high of 43 today) here in northern Indiana.  Not a flake of snow
is on the ground.  (But we northerners know it will come!).  Anyway,
it's been a while since I've written, and I hope the dawn of 2004 finds
you all healthy, happy, and refreshed by this holiday season.

We have a big year coming up, don't forget; Conference 2004 this year
will be in Dallas, Texas, and I hope all of you can make it.  It will be
the best yet (just ask Phyllis, Roland, Vicki and the rest of the
organizers!  They're doing a great job, and I'm glad to be able to help
them a little).

I've had a pretty good holiday.  I've eaten too much, of course (burp!),
haven't done nearly the reading I hoped I would (but I have done
some--gotta prepare for a class I'm teaching which I haven't taught for
a while), and at times things were a bit rushed.  I'm sure many of you
can identify with  that.

Many at holiday time have it much worse.  It's too bad that, for some,
the holidays can be a time of depression, sadness, even anger and
contempt (I read a rather famous journalist's "blog" the other day, and
he wrote frankly that he hated the holidays and this entire time of
year, and couldn't wait until it was all over).  But such is a reality.
Maybe it's because our media culture presents the holidays, in
advertisements and TV shows, as a time that is supposed to be filled
with endless joy and perfect contentment, total happiness, with
everybody loving each other every minute and loving all those perfect
gifts!

Well, but...as we all know, life just isn't that way.  We don't always
receive perfect gifts (otherwise December 26th wouldn't be known as a
day to _return_ stuff!) and, while they're our friends and family and we
love them, we don't always get along with 'em, darn it.

So the holidays _aren't_ perfect, not like the ads and the cards and the
shows portray it, and some people feel...what?  Let down?  Like they're
missing something?  Maybe all those things.

And of course if you have Moebius Syndrome, you feel all those things,
too.  Maybe, once in a while, a bit more.  We can't plaster on fake
smiles when we open the gift containing the sweater that's 3 sizes too
small (but I guess no one can see us grimace, either).  We can't pucker
up under the mistletoe (but hey, ladies, us guys are willing to try it
anyway :+))  The Madison Avenue types don't want to put us in their
holiday ads (but then, I wouldn't want to appear in them, anyway, with
those poor stick-thin models who look like they'll blow away at the
first good breeze!  You just want to reach out and feed them
quarter-pounders with cheese.)

Yes, as Charlie Brown said so long ago in "A Charlie Brown's Christmas",
the holiday's "commercialism" can get to you.  What is the true meaning
of Christmas?  As Rudolph the reindeer found out, people can look away
from you when you look "different", even though Santa's reindeer and
elves were supposed to be all about giving, not conforming.

Once I became an adult, all this used to bother me, too.  But you know
what?  This year I just didn't worry about it.  This year I just
embraced what I liked about Christmas and the holidays...and ignored the
rest.  It is after all a great holiday; with a chance for all of us to
engage, not just in "getting", but in giving...to those we care about,
and to the less fortunate.  It's a time to see and be with family and
friends, and to rest up and fortify ourselves for the year ahead.

It's a time to remember what happened all those years ago in Bethlehem,
in a tiny, dirty stable.  As the country singer Kathy Mattea sang, in a
beautiful Christmas carol I have on CD, "there's a new kid in town...and
he's lying in a manger down the road.   There's a new kid in town...but
he's just another baby I suppose.  Heaven knows.  There's a new kid in
town.  Here in Bethlehem."

Those are all great things, aren't they? 

Absolutely.  So, there was a country music station here in town which,
from Thanksgiving Day until Christmas, played nothing but Christmas
music.  I listened to it often.  (though I must say Elvis's "Blue
Christmas" does get a bit old.)  (and I never realized there were so
MANY versions of "Frosty the Snowman"!  Sheesh.)  Once school was over,
and I had more time, I walked around our big mall here in town.  Funny
thing---often, when I and other adults walked past Santa Claus holding
children in his lap, I caught the older folks smiling.  Imagine that.  I
bought plenty of presents, and spent more than I should have.  But it's
a special time of year.  I put on a Christmas party for all the kids in
my classes here at IUSB.  I enjoyed the time with family, gladly ate too
much, and gladly brought food with me to make sure THEY ate too much!

Goldie the cat, along with the other felines in my household, Mr. T. and
Minuet, are still demanding that they be part of the fun; so they'll get
a special New Year's meal of canned salmon meat.  (Goldie won't get off
the TV set until I dish it up.  His tail gets in the way of the football
games I'm watching, so...)

Life can be pretty good.  Count your blessings.  Be glad for what you
have.  Hardly an original message...but a very good one.

Happy New Year!  And I can't wait to see all of you in Dallas.


Kevin