Published: 12/22/2020 2:13:31 PM

During a year with so much uncertainty, with the pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes, the death of Justice Ginsburg, the election, and Senate hanging in the balance, heres one concrete step we can take to make the world more human. As we enter into the holiday season, we of the Christian faith/tradition can lose sight of the way that our celebrations can take up all the room and crowd out any space for those who dont come from this tradition. And we dont realize, in our efforts to be inclusive, how we are unintentionally asking people to give up or deny parts of themselves in order to assimilate to our way of doing things.

Its painful to have to give up or deny parts of yourself in order to belong. Thats not authentic belonging. And at a time when the biological determinism of White Supremacy (the anti-maskers) is on display at the very highest levels of our government; when the assumption that the good (white) genes will protect them and that they will risk their own lives, along with the lives around them, certain that only the fit will survive; when the botched handling of the pandemic seems like a modern-day eugenics/holocaust unfolding with the Black, brown, poor, obese, disabled and elders dying first, it may seem counterintuitive NOT to extend ourselves in the ways we are accustomed, with our bells, lights and holiday spirit attempting to hold onto something that seems normal.

Yet that impulse may not be what is needed now. What may be needed more is a kind word. A human connection, nondenominational. Toning down our expectations for attention about our shopping, decorating or meals. And yes, even asking those not of this tradition, Hey, how its going for you this time of year? A simple, concrete gesture, remembering that there is not one right way to be in this world. Offering the humility to notice that there are actually people with equally valid ways of being in the world.

Betsy L. Ames

Northampton

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Betsy L. Ames: One concrete step to make the world more human - GazetteNET