Tie o’ the Day is one of my favorite clever ties. Mom is a fanatic about snowmen, as well as funny cleverness, so I thought I’d let her surround snowman Tie. These photos of Mom are from the mid-70’s. And they were taken at two different Christmas’s. It’s nice to see Mom as the recipient of gifts, since she’s always been so overly gifty to everyone else.
In years when Dad’s bees couldn’t find enough bloom to produce enough honey, we were money-less. I never knew it, until I looked back at those years, from my adulthood. Our Christmas’s were never a clue that we were poor. Mom and Dad… er… Santa always found a way to give us kids plenty. And it was usually more than we probably deserved, although I have a belief about kids and Christmas: All kids deserve the world. I don’t mean just stuff, and I don’t mean kids should be spoiled into narcissism. I mean they deserve a universe of love and security and, yes, a gift or two. That’s everything to a kid who’s been raised to have a compassionate heart.
You’d be surprised how many children do not feel loved or secure or hope for their futures. I always felt valued. I look back now at people I grew up with, and I see with mature eyes that more than a handful of them grew up in homes that were places of abuse, poverty, and defeat. A lot of them couldn’t get themselves out of that cycle.
Maybe if I– and my friends– had been able to see it then, we could have helped them rise. I kick myself now for what I didn’t see then. And although we say it’s never too late, life has taught us all that isn’t always true. Sometimes, our compassion can’t change a bloody thing for someone else. They’ve tried. We’ve tried. And it is too late for some people to make a new life. Sometimes a person has no choices. We want to think they do, but in our hearts we know– from where they are now– they don’t have choices.
But we should never cease shooting our compassion and hope their way. Our compassion for others expands our souls. Mostly, it can be a small comfort to those who suffer in lowly situations. Mom and Dad taught me that lesson. Love on, my friends.
HOLIDAY TIE TALLY: 68 Bow ties. 137 Neckties.