December, 2004 - Nr. 13
Letter from the Editor
Dear Reader
Christmas is for children! It is a wonderful opportunity to teach young ones about the spirit of giving and sharing, about compassion and understanding, about responsibility and loyalty, about all those things that are truly meaningful and worthwhile.
But certainly Christmas is also for us grown-ups to remind us of all those worthwhile things to do and to be in case we forgot through the year, which often serves up hardships for so many of us. The game of life is not always interesting but often challenging, even hard. Survival is no longer easily guaranteed. There are no jobs for a lifetime anymore, no social services in abundance. Governments have no longer control over how much money can be printed. That right was abdicated some time ago and is in other hands now; and thus the power plays are becoming tougher. Shortages are emphasized wilfully, perhaps are even created on purpose for the benefit of unknown interests. Every once in a while there is a census to determine how many we are, what we will like or dislike, what we do and don’t do, how much money we make, how we spend our money, how many taxes can we be expected to pay, what we have and or not have, what language we speak at home and in business, where we come from and so on.
It is all much the same as it was a couple of thousand years ago, from whence the story comes that we commemorate every year as Christmas. We still have the same problems of greed and fear; we have the homeless. We have corrupt public servants and businessmen, criminals and wise men alike. We have philosophers and simple men, and on occasion they actually are the same people and we really benefit. For the truth and things workable are always simple, not convoluted and complex.
Let us keep those simple things in our lives, let us keep practicing compassion and be helpful to each other instead of considering the worst about each other. Let us celebrate life together, shelve hatred and distrust and all other feelings that do not make us feel good about each other. Let us work together on making this a better place, not a more difficult one. Let us set good examples, even when we cross the street or go to a supermarket, but certainly with our families and friends and business partners. Let us just try a little harder, even with strangers.
Or else 2 thousand years or more have all been for naught.
I for one am not quite ready to admit defeat! How about you?
All of us at Echo Germanica wish all of you a very wonderful
Christmas, even if you do not celebrate it.
Sybille Forster-Rentmeister
Comments to: editor@echoworld.com
