Well I have been sitting around for the
last few days brooding over whether I should send a Christmas message this year
and if so, what kind? Mostly I have been leaning to one of my normal,
smaltzy, slightly sentimental, usually over-long messages full of chatty news
about what ‘s happening with me.
But not this year.
As I come closer to the end of my life
and wrestle with increasing difficult health issues, I think more often about
those things that are truly important.
Family, of course.
As you know I am blessed with three of
the greatest grand children ever born. When they were younger, I viewed
the three of them almost as a single life force, signifying the tenacity of we
humans to survive, thrive and pass along the lessons we have learned to a new
generation. Lately however as they have grown and developed to each
become their own unique personalities, I am coming to appreciate them more as
individuals: each with their own talents and abilities. And perhaps even
some minor: scarcely mentionable really, difficulties.
It is our shared experience that binds
us together as families and as a species but it is our uniqueness that makes us
special, each in our own way. I can see the uniqueness in the kids now
but I think it is mostly their genetic mix showing itself. As we grow
into adults it is increasingly our behavioral choices that define us and
separate us from our fellows. I am looking forward to seeing how the kids
make their choices. They have a good example in their parents.
But friends are important too.
For most of you, relatives excepted, it
is your choices that got you on the receiving end of this note. If you had been
less interesting and possessed of less integrity you would not be sitting there
trying to decide if you ought to read this foolish note or just delete it
immediately. Of all the tens of tens of thousands of people I have met on
nearly every continent, you got on the list of my friends. If you have
gotten this far, you might as well finish reading.
I just completed re-reading two
books. One is Steven Hawing's A Briefer History of Time and the
other is A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
The almost non-existent chance of life developing and surviving on this
infinitesimal speck in an expanding cosmos of 11 dimensions and infinite
parallel universes will either drive you to a faith in a higher power of drive
the faith right out of you depending on how you look at it.
I don’t have any answers when it comes
to faith but any study of cosmology will make you feel pretty small and
insignificant. And perhaps we are; but we are not alone, thank God!
And it is you I have to thank for that. As you know, I have had the
wanderlust all my life and often found myself in places where I knew no
one. But every time one of you has welcomed me and made me feel at
home. Thank you all, relatives included.
At this special time of year I am
thinking of you and wishing each and every one of you and those you love, the
very best of holiday seasons. I hope you are sharing the many blessings
my family and I have been given.
Many of you I have heard from recently
but many have been silent this past year. If you find the time, drop me a
note and let me know how things are going with you.
All the best
Bob
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