Remember the meaning of Christmas
Each year as we progress through the Christmas season and move closer to the afterlife, we focus more on the meaning of Christmas.
Christmas has become a national celebration and holiday accompanied by a big spike in economic activity. This is all good, especially the emphasis on giving rather than receiving. Children, of course, eagerly anticipate the receiving part, which represents the giver’s love and affection.
More fundamentally, we look back some 2,000 years to the birth of the child Jesus, who later declared he was the son of God. Jesus’s ministry, eventual crucifixion, death, resurrection and subsequent appearances led both followers and observers to contemplate the existence of an afterlife and what it could mean for them as individuals.
For us, the afterlife represents hope and the prospect that all our sins, shortcomings and offenses against other people will be forgiven.
For now, however, let us emphasize the music, the decorations and these Christmas messages:
- Love your neighbor as yourself
- Pursue peace on earth
- Express goodwill to all people
Friends, we hope that the joy of the Christmas season will touch you and yours.
James and Betty Largay
Upper Saucon Township
A long history of antisemitism
The slaughter of Jews on an Australian beach came one week after my wife and I saw the movie “Nuremberg.” I wish every adult would see “Nuremberg” for the several minutes it shows from a longer, historic clip shown at the actual Nuremberg trial. The film reveals what Allied forces found while liberating some concentration and death camps. Australia and “Nuremberg” are powerful reminders of the antisemitism on the rise in the United States and around the world for several years.
Antisemitism is not a new phenomenon. The Roman Empire slaughtered Jews. The Crusaders destroyed Jewish communities in Europe on their way to the Holy Land. Jews were burned at the stake during the Inquisition. Pogroms in Poland and Russia devastated Jewish villages. All this happened before the Nazi Holocaust. No wonder our Jewish communities now have armed guards at synagogues and Jewish communal buildings
My parents, grandparents and in-laws all suffered at the hands of the Nazis. As a child and adult, I never thought that in old age I would have to wonder if my children or grandchildren would one day need to escape antisemitism in the United States. Silence implies acquiescence.
Rabbi Allen Juda
Hanover Township, Northampton County
Rep. Mackenzie trying to fool his constituents
Anyone that has been on the internet has seen the click bait that tries to sell you snake oil. If you are paying attention, Rep. Ryan Mackenzie utilizes this weird trick frequently. Mackenzie would have you believe he was part of a bipartisan effort to restore the Affordable Care Act tax credits. Mackenzie is keenly aware this issue could cost him votes. So he signs on to a petition that is a smoke screen devised by his Bucks county Republican counterpart Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who happens to be in a competitive district as well. They both know that the bill to restore the ACA credits has no chance to pass in the Senate. Supporting the discharge petition to bring a vote on those credits to the floor of the House provides crafty political cover to peddle to their constituents the next election cycle. Anyone interested knows the ACA credits were one of the main drivers of the shutdown. I’m sure they are practiced enough to trump up some whopper of a yarn defending their earlier position.
Mike Neetz
Emmaus
Trump’s post raises question about leadership
Hearing what President Trump posted online after Rob Reiner’s death left me and others appalled. Calling a person mean or evil and saying he had Trump Derangement Syndrome after he was murdered says a lot about Trump’s own mental health. Trump is a man who demeans everyone who does not agree with him. Our president is the only one with Trump Derangement Syndrome. He is too obsessed with his ego and power and has no room in his thoughts and actions to show remorse for the death of another human being. Trump is mentally unfit to be president. It is a danger for our nation to have him continue to lead America. Make America great again by impeaching a dangerous mind that lives inside this president.
Stephen Smith
Bethlehem
Trump seems out of touch on the economy
President Trump was in our area last week to tout his economic plan. Speaking at a casino and resort in the Poconos, he mocked the affordability issue, said that he inherited a horrible economy from the Biden administration, and claimed that “prices are coming down tremendously.” At the same time, he told people concerned about affording holiday gifts, “you don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter; two or three is nice.”
But this president has a problem; A poll (AP/NORC) released the day after his speech revealed that only 31% of those polled approve of how Trump is handling the economy. Most Americans don’t share Trump’s love of tariffs. And the president appears to be in an out of touch bubble surrounded by billionaires who tell him that he is doing an “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus job.”
It’s no wonder that Democrats are celebrating Trump’s new speaking tour.
Daniel A. Nickischer
Lehigh Township
Let some time to do nothing into your life
My attention span feels shorter than a goldfish’s. I can’t get through my day without a playlist, without a video. If you recognize yourself, this is for us.
I’m not a guru. I’m a student who realized the antidote to nonstop stimulation might be the one thing we fear most: boredom.
Boredom is a doorway to purpose and meaning. When we kill boredom, we kill the space where creativity and self-reflection live.
So here’s my hypothesis: We don’t lack focus because our brains are broken; we lack focus because we never let our minds be empty.
My best ideas never arrive when I’m tapping through notifications. They show up after restless silence: waiting in line without my phone or sitting in the grass. We need boredom like athletes need rest days: no rest, no growth.
To be fair, boredom won’t fix serious mental illness, and some jobs make unplugging hard. But most of us can reclaim small pockets of nothing.
This week, schedule one hour to be bored. Go outside, touch grass, sit and let your brain wander enough to remember that it can.
We don’t need another app. We need something less glamorous and more radical: #BringBackBoredom.
Aditi Maheshwari
Upper Macungie Township
The Morning Call publishes letters from readers online and in print several times a week. Submit a letter to the editor at letters@mcall.com. The views expressed in this piece are those of its individual author(s), and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of this publication.
