Last month, during one of the wettest autumn seasons I’ve ever seen, I heard through the grapevine that the winter promised to be colder and snowier than usual. I have an image re-playing itself constantly in my head of two giant fingers reaching through the clouds, picking me up, and plopping down somewhere else, I don’t care where, as long as it’s sunny and warm and there is no COVID-19 and no competitions to become the next social-media superstar. That would really be lovely, but here we are, wrapping up another fall semester, filled with final-exam stress, and everyone making it one day at a time.
I truly admire the eternal optimists. My mother is one of these people. She sees opportunity and goodness everywhere. When the news is saying that we’ll be getting a colder and snowier winter she says that we should find really creative ways to pass the time. She baked beautiful loaves of bread that are filled with pieces of fruit and nuts to give to people for the holidays (and FYI that holiday bread tastes amazing with gobs of butter). She drew handmade Christmas cards. She takes special efforts to make the world around her a bit brighter, and by this she brightens other people’s worlds.
I know that the Christmas season, which we’re just emerging from, can be tough: we see posters of holiday cheer plastered on department-store windows inviting us to purchase the newest and fanciest gadget or gizmo—there are pressures everywhere to give the right gifts, which are just a press of a button and a wave to Jeff Bezos away. There is always this need to make things faster, more convenient, and easier to purchase and receive. Everything, even ordering food, is done electronically; it takes a while to get to a real person at the end of a phone line some days. And hearing about yet another new COVID-19 variant making its way into the storm isn’t really surprising people anymore—it has become part of the everyday.
Still, while all this swirling absurdity has become the norm, the Earth keeps turning and people still smile under their masks. The hardworking and hopeful students of Camosun turn in their assignments on time, and the true meaning of celebration in a new year still beats inside its proverbial heart.
Here in the new year, send some sort of loving message to a friend or family member, whether it be on a handmade card or an e-hug. The little things really do count.