Avoid Politics and Spread Kindness for the Holidays

R.Bruce Anderson

It’s the one time of year when I’m going to implore everyone, including myself, to avoid talking politics. Gloating, complaining, crying, whining, planning a real estate investment in Greenland… Around the table, in front of the match, in the den after “a few” with your brother-in-law… or in this column. Shh.

It’s a strange void, as we juggle commitments between Solstice, Christmas and New Years – time to celebrate, to feast, to chat with family, to meet new family members, to say goodbye to those who are no longer around the table and to welcome. the meaning of the season.

For all these reasons, we party, we applaud, we do too much, and we end up, exhausted but full, around the 1^st of January. We often travel to faraway places – for family members or friends we don’t usually see, or simply to “get away” with our best and most loved ones for at least a short time.

It’s a joyful season. I think of my freshmen – damn, all my students – returned home for the first time since the hurricanes, with another semester behind them, another step toward their goal, ready to rest.

Florida is a target for the festivities: Traffic on I-95, I-75 and I-4 – always a congested nightmare – is particularly terrible. Airports are overflowing, flights are canceled (not because of OUR weather, but because the weather in a million other places caused its chaos in every flight path leading to Orlando, Miami, Tampa, and Jacksonville. Our beaches, our parks (amusement, state and national), our people, our food, our music, our culture – it attracts the world No-the holidays, and we are where people flee has when vacation time arrives.

It can become frenzied fun for those with an animated bent. There are so many things to do, so much to seeso many people to connect and reconnect with.

Unless you are alone – or almost alone, or feel like you are.

It’s a painful and overwhelming time of year for people who can manage their daily lives just fine, but there’s immense pressure to “get together as a family” and who don’t have family. Or they’re missing someone close to them, or maybe they’re just facing real challenges themselves. They are suffering. Illness, financial hardship, depression, and anxiety all hit harder when everything around you is filled with joy.

For many people, this time of year can be a dreaded and horrible time, full of unfulfilling expectations, impossible emotional demands, and memories of loss. The pressure to judge and weigh the past year (especially in the New Year) can be insurmountable, and for some, it’s difficult to see the day, let alone victory.

This is the time of year to discover our empathetic nature, I think – to reach out in meaningful ways to those who are struggling, as well as to rejoice.

“Volunteering is a reward”:Polk County Meals on Wheels delivers 120,000 meals annually

I come from a big family – five sisters and one brother (both our parents are now gone). Growing up, it seemed like we were tall enough and close enough that when someone was down there was always someone who would step up, with a kind word or gesture, or who was willing to talk a little or make a cup of tea.

For many, it has to come from the community. Kindness is an exceptional commodity.

I think if we could all be a little more aware, a little more sensitive to people who might have a problem during the holidays, we would support the authentic spirit and meaning of the season. They may be short of one-liners, could use a pat on the arm, a little love. Take a moment, recognize.

There is no direct reward, I’m afraid; no karmic change to be compassionate. That must be its own reward. But there is a verse from a sacred book that somewhat corresponds:

“Do not forget to show love to strangers: for thus some have received angels without their knowledge” (Heb. 13:2)

R. Bruce Anderson is the Dr. Sarah D. and L. Kirk McKay, Jr. Professor of American History, Government and Civics and the Miller Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Florida Southern College. He is also a columnist for The Ledger and a political consultant and on-air commentator for WLKF Radio in Lakeland.

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Avoid Politics and Spread Kindness for the Holidays

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