Don's Tuesday Column

THE WAY I SEE IT by Don Polson          Red Bluff Daily News 12/24/2024

    A heartfelt message on Christmas Eve

For many folks, ourselves included, celebrating Christmas is a quiet, even private, affair. Distant relatives and recently-visited friends mean it’s a selective, intentional event. The festivities, come and gone over decades of married life, move us to skip the falderal (def: a useless ornament or accessory...) because it’s become irrelevant to the “reason for the season.” We indulge in the Christmas music, Christmas movies (Polar Express and the Hallmark channel), and consider the mission of the Messiah’s birth.

The energy to engage in Christmas “stuff” needs to be carefully metered at our age to avoid mental or emotional exhaustion. Celebrating with those whose lives you cherish approaches the inner meaning of the birth of Jesus Christ. His years on this earth, starting with the holy event of His birth to the Virgin Mary and Joseph, were and are the spiritual source of Hope and Joy for all of humanity who choose to believe.

“Gift giving” reflects the ultimate Gift of God’s Son. He was sent into this world of endless woes, unlimited mortal shortcomings, and sin to a degree perhaps unimagined by the Supreme Being that created this physical world of flesh and substance, limits and heartbreaks, free will and its consequences of accomplishment and disasters.

The relevance of December 25, and of Christmas Eve—the camaraderie and fellowship that differs from the feast of Thanksgiving and the artificial, superficial celebration of New Years—speaks to the human condition that needs, even requires, glimmers of hope for a better world. After all, are we not all given to a bit of sadness, considering the travesties and abominations that parade across our news feeds.

Is this free will not a blessing, even as it’s misused for death, destruction and misery inflicted upon the innocent and undeserving? Can we not see, and deeply understand, that we each have a journey between the portals of birth and death, before and after which are believed to be preparation as well as retrospection over the wonders, the magnificence, the eternality of God’s creation and His vision and plan for our immortal souls?

“For God so love the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Please consider this reminder my small gift: After the wrappings are cleared away, the leftovers stored, and the warmth and (hopefully) rewarding visits are consigned to memory—there is still the need for life to be celebrated, for Higher Purpose to manifest itself, and for each of us to become a blessing to those around us.

I pray that those immersed in hatred, addictions (including the addiction to rage and anger), violence, thievery, abuse and all other sinful conduct—will open their hearts to God’s love and transformation, in Jesus Name. Is that an exercise in futility? Maybe, but perhaps not. Merry Christmas to all.

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Of recent note, Gov. Newsom dropped into the area to tout supposedly commendable goals: “A Master Plan for Career Education, which prioritizes hands-on learning and real-life skills while advancing educational access...Career Passports to help workers showcase their skills and experiences to potential employers [making] it easier for people, especially those without a four-year degree, to prove their qualifications and access good jobs” (Daily News, 12/17).

Not to be a “negative Nancy,” but the inconvenient reality is that California’s record in general, and Newsom’s in particular, of well-funded and well-intentioned plans for civic improvement, consists of over-promising and under-delivering.

Over the last half-century, money spent on education in this state has roughly tripled while student numbers have remained fairly flat. The “bang for the buck” is underwhelming, considering the decline in test scores resulting from the nonsensical pandemic school shutdowns. Even before the state-and-teachers-union-imposed shutdowns, test scores showed no improvement while the number of administrators and non-teacher personnel tripled along with those bloated budgets.

Question: What is the real-world value of a potential employee—skills and qualifications aside—whose proficiency in “reading, writing, and ‘rithmatic” are among the lowest of economically developed nations? Are they bringing the successful tools of a K-12 education to an employer? Or simply trained to the lowest common denominator of knowledge and capabilities—well-versed in “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” and “woke” gobbledygook?

Newsom bragged about eliminating 62,000 state employee positions, out of around a quarter of a million current employees. That’s “efficiency”?

The bottomless pit of homelessness? $24 billion spent with little to show for it. High-speed rail? Likely cost is 10 times the original projection for less convenience than driving, and longer travel time than current air transport.

And we now have a declared “bird flu” emergency with no reported human-to-human infection, the most basic gauge of potential health threat. I see it as smoke, mirrors, and circus performances to distract the citizens from the catastrophic mismanagement of every aspect of life in California.