The Week Ahead
Sunday, December 25, 2022
Here’s to hoping everyone who celebrates had a Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah and Kwanza too. Wherever you are in life, I hope you’ve found ways to celebrate the season. The holidays always remind me that something as simple as a string of fairy lights in a tree can be magical. We all benefit from having a moment to appreciate the beauty around us.
Rather than discuss the week ahead, which will undoubtedly be filled with more fallout from the January 6 committee’s excellent report and more tidbits from Trump’s taxes, I want to open the comments for people to share their holiday news and views and celebrate our community. I’m grateful for all of you and love hearing from you. I read every comment, even when I don’t respond to all of them (or when I respond under my Substack reader account instead of my author account, which I recently realized I’ve been doing).
On a personal note, I’m getting the bivalent booster in the morning. I mention this because I’m one of those lucky people with a kicky immune system that reacted strongly to both the original shots and the boosters with bad flu-like symptoms for 48 hours. So happy to go through the minor inconvenience to avoid more serious illness! But I did want to let y’all know in case I drop off the radar screen for a couple of days.
One final thing, in case you missed it with the holiday: Three busloads of migrants were dumped on the side of the road by the Vice President’s residence, in freezing temperatures, on Christmas Eve. I lack the words, at least polite ones, to fully express my outrage.
Many legitimate sources are reporting that Texas governor Greg Abbot was responsible. No matter who is behind this, using vulnerable people to score political points is unbearably wrong. Migrants, including young children, looking for shelter from the cold on Christmas Eve is something you’d think would be out of bounds for this crew, which claims religious virtue for itself. Apparently not.
The evil is offset by the decency of the people in our nation’s capitol who set out to help these folks. I’m aware of one place that’s assisting, and there are surely others who deserve support—please drop info in the comments if you’re familiar with others.
Apparently disappointed that Trump’s family separation policy is no more, we have elected leaders in this country who believe that treating brown-skinned migrants with cruelty is politically profitable and that Americans will accept, if not applaud, it. Some apparently do.
One of my goals for the coming year is to keep the spotlight on this cruelty and hold elected officials who are responsible accountable. I’m planning on re-reading Elie Wiesel’s books, Night, Dawn, and Day in January for remembrance and for inspiration. A Holocaust survivor, Wiesel, accepting the Nobel prize in 1986, said, “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
We’re in this together,
Joyce
Abbott and his evil cohorts --struck me that nite they were like cruel King Herod trying to kill the children on Xmas Eve. That they did it at all; that they did it on the most frigid nite in decades; that they did it on a holiday eve knowing much support might be out of pocket; that they cloak themselves in Christianity and pull this is pretty much blasphemous and the opposite of everything Christmas Eve stands for--they’re the “there’s no room at the inn” rejectors of humanity. They proved nothing but how degenerate they’ve become.
Moving my 93 yo mom into an assisted living facility next week. These last couple of months of 2022 have been a beeotch. Still, much to be thankful for, including like minds. I hear your voice on tv/radio or read your emails and am able to better understand, and look at things from a much more ordered perspective. And those final words, "we're in this together", give me such hope. May you have a wonderful 2023 and may we see justice all around.