Given: your friends and relatives have a difficult time choosing gifts for you

Thus: they resort to the unique, odd or totally weird (a bobble-head of Celine Dion, the DVD set of all the Lawrence Welk TV shows, or that cutesy plaid sweater studded with sequined Christmas trees in one size fits none)

Therefore: you must decide whether to A) keep it and be sure to have it on display when the person visits; B) throw it out (don’t be so wasteful!); C) Donate it to a local charity; or D) Allow Great Getaways to return it for you and give you the cash—-to apply toward:

Your reservation for a Virgin Galactic suborbital space flight!

I am filled with gratitude today! I am sitting on my bed with my two dogs blanketing me as I gaze outside at a winter wonderland—you know, one of those scenes where the sun’s rays bounce off the freshly fallen snow. I have so much goodness and love in my life and have been blessed with so many varied and rich experiences. I’ve met brothers and sisters around the world (in Ravello, Stratford on Avon, Jerusalem, Raiataia, Helsinki, Cairns, St. Petersburg, Agra, Valparaiso, Luxor, Fernandina, Kuala Lumpur, the Great Barrier Reef, Whistler, Shanghai, Cusco, Kansas City, Ushuaia, and Anguilla—to name a few) who have taught me the meaning of words such as grace, hope, and love. Some have taught me about gluttony, greed; about apathy, disdain; about war, AIDS, and death. All have left an imprint on my soul that have led to the joy I have today. You see, I am a member of the Lucky Sperm Club! I had no control over choosing my parents, my homeland, and the abundance of food, healthcare, and education. It is not enough for me to “feel” grateful because I’ve learned that my feelings are not facts! Today I know that gratitude is an action word. How can I do “gratitude?” To give daily—time, hugs, a phone call, money, stuff—is my way to thank God for all the incredible gifts I have received. Some days I am more miserly than others and I discover I’ve slipped back into the world of ME. That is okay today because I am, day by day, becoming a better Giver and less of a Taker. Many days I treasure the fact that the journey is the destination. Becoming a member of the Lucky Sperm Club was a gift—as simple as that—a gift that has taken me years to unwrap and treasure.

We live in a world of excess—excessive eating, drinking, amassing stuff, emotions, highs, lows, even excessive “in betweens!” We are ruled by the exclamation point and by the appendage “-est” —okay is NOT an option. Okay becomes the boringest—the worsest! Even our language is subject to this phenomenon—the best grammar is reserved for “elitists” and lack of grammar is for the dummest or coolest, depending on your point-of-view.

We sleep on a sidewalk outside a store in hopes of snagging one of this year’s hottest holiday gifts—the Wii. I mean, really, can you imagine a holiday get-together without one? Please!

We dream of how we can get one extra mile per gallon out of our Hummer—yes, for multiples thousands of dollars a mechanic can convert your gas guzzling vehicle into a diesel or hybrid engine. Thank God! I certainly couldn’t live without my Hummer. What would people say? 

And how about our places of worship? Today one can vie for being a member of the biggest, largest, newest, oldest, most spiritual, truest,  super-evangical “We are Saved” church, synagogue, mosque, etc.

We are Americans! We have the best, are the best, build the best, and who cares about the rest of the world? We wrestle with the real problems—immigration, global warming (“Honey, would you turn the heat up a tad?”), whether to nominate a woman, a Black, a preacher, various womanizers, a Mormon as President of this Superpower we call the U. S. of A.. And, we really thought the world would come to an end when we elected a Catholic???

We are immune to the happenings in the rest of the world or we feign interest if it benefits our resume. “Quaint”—a word used to describe a horrific slum, Mukuru, in Nairobi, Kenya, “but not something I really want to see when traveling!” said by a woman I know. An oil spill in South Korea—pity! Thank God it didn’t happen here—where it would have meant something! Floating garbage in the Pacific Ocean the size of the state of Texas—disgusting, truly disgusting! But don’t look at me! I don’t litter. (“Honey, did you remember to bring the bottled water?”)

Not my problem! Not my fault! I can’t cure all the world’s ills! Okay, I’m with you on that. How about working on just one thing? One thing that one person could do to help repair our world? Would you do it? Sure, sure thing—as soon as Super Sunday Football is over…

…that grabbing an assault rifle and killing some innocent people before taking one’s own life is an acceptable way to display anger?