2022 has been a year of loss for so many people, whether sudden or expected. The entire tenor of the year seems to be one of spoilage – we should be getting back to a comfortable new normal and yet so many days have been filled with the disruption of rights, access, and lives. On this darkest day of a year when the light has been too often blotted out – overwhelmingly by men who should no longer be granted the power to do so – it is hard to realize that the light is still there and is even growing in many ways. The desperate voices of those who cling to a past filled with an exclusive type of exceptionalism become more strident because they are losing power. The counterattacks are severe because they are the spasmodic dying throes of an old way of thinking that is not shared by the generations to come. Inclusion is winning in most places, though that is not helpful or apparent to those stuck in the last bastions of shadow. Bringing light to those places will be hard, but it can be done. Charlie Murphy said, “Light is returning, even though it is the darkest hour. No one can hold back the dawn.” We can be the dawn.
My annual blessing to you all, with the help of Callie Hills in giving them their final polish:
– as the sun increases, so may your joys increase.
– as the nights become shorter, so may your sorrows shrink.
– as those you love surround you, feel my love there as well.
– may you be blessed by your Gods, be they within or without.
– may all your dearest dreams come to you in time.