This was a letter to the editor I wrote to The Cortland Standard. I heard from somebody that it was in the paper, but I’m not sure what date.

Don’t just count your blessings, grow and share them. My daughters are home and it’s the time of year when I think things like this. Supposedly Mother Theresa said something like that: “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” My three ripples amaze me with their hearts, minds, and horrible senses of humor, and I believe they cast out decent stones of their own.

But I worry about the world they are growing into. We hope for leaders to be those ripples and represent our values-not realizing we are the ones responsible for making the world we want. Politics is theater, and it has descended into bipartisan tragedy. Republicans promise to ignore their constitutional duty and simply do as their king commands. For them, free speech is about freedom to be mean to others. On the leftish side, Democrats are most obsessed with blocking progressive policies and working-class voters behind them. Their “big tent” and “unity” propaganda is just demands to get under the tent they say and unite behind the candidate they choose.

My Christmas wish is for better from both, and leadership reflecting  the goodness that people send out. But there’s no power in wishing. So I’m left with my stones and ripples. I’m not going to worry about whether or not Santa is going to get into the fridge and take one of my beers again. He deserves one. That’s a stone I’ll cast and the houses he visits afterward will feel the ripples. I’ll hug my girls, we’ll think aloud over some nog about the state of the world, and plot their takeover. More stones, right? ‘Tis the season, so I have come to grips with sharing my blessings, not just counting them.