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Now a tradition here at DWR, I present the final moments from the episode of the West Wing titled ‘In Excelsis Deo’. A powerful reminder of all the happenings of the holidays and the courage people muster during these forcefully happy times.
Be Well All.
Warm wishes to you and yours from all of here at DWR.
Sometimes a TV show captures a feeling so succinctly, so beautifully, so powerfully, that it becomes something a little more special. Sure it is the West Wing a TV drama – but put away the cynicism for just a bit – and follow the emotion of the moment portrayed. You know I’m no fan of the military, but I think the message is bigger than just the surface trappings of the event.
The moment is about empathy and being willing to take the hit for helping bring to others some small bit of decency, even if it is the funeral of one of your loved ones. The juxtaposition of the stark funeral procession and the christmas festivities just destroys me every time I watch the damn clip. A funeral as a holiday ‘gift’ illustrating the humanity and possible decency of the human spirit….oh damn…there I go again.
Happy Holidays to you, gentle readers, from all of us here at DWR.
From: The Arbourist, Mystro, The Intransigent One, and Bleatmop.
The West Wing, ever so often, managed to perfectly capture the crazy paradoxical nature of the human condition. Watch and experience the juxtaposition so masterfully done in this short clip.
How can any day be a day of joy when some 20,000 children will die of preventable causes. Oh sure, we pull it off – we ignore, we distance, we glaze over the baleful reality that would ‘ruin’ our festive spirits. It is a supposedly happy time year, yet the rate of suicide always spikes during the holiday. We entertain ourselves, ostensibly to be happy, but what is this happiness that is procured while fleeing headlong from the misery that defines the condition of collective humanity. The (un)funny thing about the whole situation is that unless one takes the time to think about the paradox of the season (and life) it un-gently fades into the background; yet, the dissonance remains, like a middle C and F# played repeatedly without resolution (try it on the next keyboard that crosses your path, it is really a henky sound).
Why should one bother with those grating notes in the background, when so much is done to wash them away? I mean, why not subscribe to the ‘life is great for me, let’s live in moment’ and all that. We should insert the cliche examined vs. unexamined life bit here to make this sappy holiday soliloquy complete. :)
(ed. Funny, I made a typo in that last sentence instead of “let’s live” I had produced “let’s lie”… )
This, like much of my writing, is vaguely contemplative, but mostly hot air generated in one of the many cavities in my skull. Given my predilection to rage-hate philosophical word-wanke I hope, gentle readers, that I have not strayed to far into that particular territory.
Rather; let us together find some small sliver kinship and solidarity with our tri-tone reality (that C/F# thingie), and try to reconnect with those qualities that make us good human beings – empathy, altruism and charity – for every season.
And yes, a Happy Holiday wish to all our readership here on DWR, and all the best in the New Year. So sayeth the happy cat.
bleatmop
Mystro
The Arbourist
Dead Wild Roses 
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