Love came down at Christmas
“Love came down at Christmas” or so the words of the hymn go. But you don’t have to be Christian to know that we celebrate this holiday because a man named Jesus Christ was born and spent his life showing compassion, acceptance and kindness to every human being regardless of their race, gender, station in life or choices; even turning his other cheek to his enemies.
Jesus was the ultimate “woke” person. He understood how societies choose to disdain, revile and exclude certain groups. So, he bravely preached the unpopular message of unconditional love of the leper, the prostitute and other outcasts. He advocated a world where recognition of every person’s humanity without judgment could unite us and remove the barriers of bias that drive hate crimes, prejudice, toxicity and division.
I would hope we’d all be especially inspired by holiday messages of peace and love. But more than that I would hope that we speak out against the sources of hate: church pulpits condoning violence against LGTBQ individuals and abortion clinics, websites allowing racial slurs and dangerous slander on their platforms, right-wing media hyping conspiracy theories to implicate innocent people and any political party or person embracing extremist militia and white supremacy hate groups.
Love will come down at Christmas when every person insists that harmful, self-serving lies and hate speech can’t be legitimized as “free speech” and citizens recognize how politicians deem fellow citizens as inferior, threatening or unworthy in order to incite heightened fear and resentment against them, while only pretending to promote harmony, justice and equality.
Martha Hodges
Kailua Kona
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