10 Days

 

It is 10 days until the winter solstice.

I cannot say I will be sad to see the last of 2020.  But the solstice will come in 10 days, while there are still 3 weeks of 2020 to get through.  (Like many of my friends, I may stay up on Dec. 31 just to make sure 2020 leaves the house.)

In many cultures, especially those in the north, (I don't know enough about those in the far south) there is a tradition of lighting a candle to put in the window.  The candle represents many things - that someone is home and giving those who are on their way home a light to follow.  It represents warmth and light and safety.

While the COVID virus continues to burn its way through humanity, our little household will continue to stay withdrawn from the fray, as much as possible.  We won't be going anywhere for the holidays.  If the weather smartens up and temps become 'better' (as in -10C during the day) and the roads become less icy, I might start walking again.  I'm feeling how much physical fitness I've lost this year.  The summer was grey and windy and wet and I found myself disinclined to go walking in the wind and rain.

Usually once winter properly arrives the roads get worn down to the pavement and it becomes quite pleasant to walk.  But not so far.  

Climate change - like the virus - is not a hoax.  We have been watching the weather change since the 1990s.  Now we routinely get weather that we would expect to have in Vancouver, not up here.  Rain in December?  Oops.  Not normal.

Trudeau has already begun making noises about that looming crises and it seems his team is beginning to work on trying to improve things in that regard.  One way to stimulate the economy would be to sink money into the alternative energy industries.  OTOH, who knows if I'll live long enough to see things get better.  Right now I would be relieved just to see less reliance on the petroleum industry.  

I suspect that life as we knew it will never return.  Hop on a plane and go to Bali for the weekend?  Not really an option.  Scoot on over to Mexico for a winter vacation?  Maybe not.  Buy a tonne of plastic holiday decorations?  Maybe making our own like we used to do - paper chains, strings of popcorn and cranberries to decorate with - might be a better option?

Most of all?  I hope the attitudes that I learned at Sunday School start to come back.  Some churches seem to have forgotten "It is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."  

Or my favourite above - lighting someone else's candle does not extinguish your own.

Or my next favourite - if you have enough, build a bigger table.