Interlude >>>>> Article #2 of a Two Article Series >>>>> Christmas as an Indicator of the Cross-Cultural Values for Impartation to All United States Citizens, with the Public Schools as Major Conduit

Pertinent to my vision for a nationwide, highly intentional focus on ethical values to be embraced by all clear-thinking citizens of humanist and various religious orientations--- with the public schools as major conduit---  I observe that the Christmas spirit at its best includes those values that we should want to proffer as candidates for widespread dissemination.

 

There is the proclaimed reason that we celebrate Christmas   >>>>>  the birth of Jesus, who was offered in Divine Sacrifice and who Divinely Sacrificed His earthly opportunity for life in the interest of Life for all---  metaphor for selfless action in behalf of the General Good, an exalted state that incorporates individual joy into Happiness for all humanity.

 

There is peace on earth, peace as an abiding general and individually internalized state of being in which the mere thought of violence is abhorrent and any violent action beyond comprehension.

 

There is joy to the world, the whole world of human beings in familial bond living on this one earthly sojourn with shared hope for the well-being of all---  all, the aggregate of each, regarded as sisters and brothers loved as fervently as those in consanguineous relationship.

 

There is silent night, holy night, when all is calm, all is bright---  the capacity to be enthralled by those serendipitous moments when one feels that all is well in her or his personal universe and perceives intimate connection to a world graced with a moment of universal calm, a vision of a world in which that sense of calm is frequent, considered perpetually possible.

 

Implicit in values exalting selfless individual action in behalf of all humanity, all living creatures;  embracing peace as abiding reality in thought and action;   elevating joy into an ethereal space to be experienced by human beings who regard one another as sisters, brothers, family;  and proclaiming the necessity of a state of psyche and spirit in which individual and collective calm may be attained at any moment desired----  implicit in these four values is a fifth, a sense of gratitude for living in such a world, a gratitude of that sensibility abiding when one realizes one's immensely good fortune at Christmas gatherings full of familial love, abundant food, and excellent health.

 

And thus does Christmas at seasonal best suggest to us those values of selfless action, abiding peace, universal joy, attainable calm, and life in identity with gratitude---   worthy of dissemination throughout the nation, across the world.