It’s no secret that I hate winter. I announce it whenever I arrive anywhere after I’ve been out in the cold. I tweet about it. I tell people I’m not a fan it when it’s 110 degrees outside in the summer and they begin to reminisce about cooler weather. Winter makes my body ache as if I’m an old man. I can’t tell you how much I slip and fall on ice. I very recently landed both my tailbone and my iPhone immediately after exiting my car. Normally, I can at least laugh at myself when this happens, but the shattered phone screen made me irrationally ragey.
I share all of this because, in spite of my immense disdain for all things cold, I have to admit that I love Advent and Christmas. I love tacky Christmas decorations like the hard plastic Santa Clauses that can probably only be found at thrift stores anymore. I love giant inflatable reindeer and snow globes that have to be staked into my neighbor’s yards, else they might blow away during a winter storm. I love tinsel and garland and angels and stars atop trees. I love string lights. So much so that I’ve been bundling myself up to the point that I can’t put my arms down and have been braving the weather to wander my neighborhood each evening, filling my thermos with either hot tea or if I’m honest, this nice merlot I’ve been enjoying lately.
I’ve never felt as tempted to quit the Facebook as I have the past few months. I don’t mind genuine political discussion, but the name calling and fake news posts and confirmation bias slathered all over it has me shaking my head. Calls to deport undocumented people, recount votes and ban muslims, to make America great again in so doing are irrational and a huge, shameless display of prejudice. Any time one speaks about a people or community wholesale, one must be incredibly careful, considering their words first.
I’ve had the occasional argument about this here and there the past few months, too. Nothing major, I promise. It’s happened online and off, with people for or against a cause, by those who have interpreted and misinterpreted communication or the lack thereof. And it’s fine, I guess. As a minister, I’ve signed up for a bit of abuse and I mostly do well with it. Mostly. As I’ve navigated social situations and scrolled past posts written in all caps, I’ve wanted to ask some of these people, when was the last time you were wrong?