This is Viewpoints for Sunday, December 17, 2017

The story behind St. Nick

Born in 270 AD in the Greek village of Patara to wealthy Christian parents, (Epiphanius and Johanna), who died in an epidemic when he was young. Taken in by his uncle (the bishop of Patara), he was raised to be a devout Christian. Ordained a priest, he dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man.

Stealthy giving away his inheritance to the poor, sick and needy, generated a curiosity that eventually exposed Friar Nicholas as their benefactor, much to his chagrin. The revelation wasn’t a big surprise for his devotion and love for them and their children was already widely known and cherished.

By 1600 Friar Nicholas had become a popular saint in that part of the world and in 1800 was introduced to America by Dutch emigrants. Writer Washington Irvin’s (Diedrich Knickerbocker) 1809 story in his book “A History of New-York…”; Clement Clarke Moore’s 1832 poem “A visit from St. Nicholas” and the image created in1862 by cartoonist Thomas Nast created the Santa Claus popular today.

Whether you say Saint Nicholas, St. Nick, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, Santa Claus or simply Santa, you’re referring to the fourth-century Greek bishop whose love, devotion and generosity to the less fortunate is mimicked throughout the world — especially during the Christmas season. A season when selfishness is momentarily curtailed to celebrate God’s precious gift by mimicking Saint Nicholas’ unconditional and never ending love for the poor, sick and needy. So don’t allow the love and compassion resurrected during this Christmas season to fade away.

‘You did it for me’

Dear Mayor Reichert, please delay the scheduled Dec. 18 removal of items belonging to Macon’s homeless population until a time when their needs for shelter and secure storage of their belongings has been satisfied for the long term.

As a resident of Macon and Daybreak and a Macon Outreach volunteer, my heart broke to hear you suggest on the radio Wednesday morning Dec. 13 that the homeless are somehow better able to cope with adverse weather conditions than the rest of us. To imply that the homeless do not require the warmth and security the rest us do is truly shocking. The only difference between the homeless and the rest of us is the gap between their need and our will and compassion to honestly resolve that need.

When we work together to help those in need solve their problems for the long term we also develop the better part of our own human spirit. What if that was the ultimate goal of community development? Isn’t that the community model we want to provide for our children? Making things “look” better and increase city revenue is not enough.

Community development needs to address the needs of everyone in our community. I imagine you are familiar with the following quote, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40. Thanks for your consideration of our brothers and sisters in need.

Bending reality

Trump claims he was right to back Roy Moore’s opponent, Luther Strange, in the Alabama primary because he “knew” Moore couldn’t win. But if Moore had won, who would have claimed the credit? I can see the tweet now: “Everybody told me not to support Moore but I did and look what happened, he couldn’t have done it without me!”

This is classic Trump and straight from the playbook of his old pal Roy Cohn. Cohn, the notorious lawyer who worked with Sen. Joe McCarthy in the 1950s, mentored Trump in the 70s and early 80s. His lessons included: Tell a lie often enough and people will believe it. Never admit you’re wrong. Turn a loss into a win. Trump has practiced these lessons repeatedly. In his own mind (and the minds of his supporters) he is always right and can never lose.

During the presidential race, he boasted when was up in the polls; when his numbers were down, the polls were fake. If he lost the election it would have been rigged; because he won, it wasn’t. The Electoral College was “a disaster for democracy” (when it appeared Obama might lose the popular vote but win the election); however, the Electoral College is “genius” after he himself lost the popular vote.

Trump plays a shell game — he makes statements so that, no matter what happens, he can always claim to be right or a winner. It’s the logic of a narcissist — regardless of the facts, “reality” must conform to his beliefs.

Alternate reality

As I read each day’s news, why is it looking like there is a different reality in Washington, D.C. than exists in the remainder of the world? We have a tax cut which mostly goes to the segment of the population that is doing the best in our economy and leaves out folks like we have in Macon. A city where not so many of us get up into the $75,000 -$250,000 range they call the “middle class” and to corporations, which have never done as well as they have in the past four or five years. They have billions of dollars in cash reserves and paying an average tax rate of 19 percent. The big multinationals pay nothing in taxes. Tell me again why they need a tax cut on top of the deductions that aren’t being taken away?

If the well-to-do pay fewer taxes, they’ll spend, not hire. Have you driven through north Atlanta’s suburbs and seen the number of $180,000 cars parked in front of $2 million homes now? View the statistics for the last 35 years.

And today the news is that these same big companies, who also own the entertainment empires and ISP’s, have been given the right to control what we’re allowed to see on the Internet, slowing, charging extra for, or even banning/blocking content that they don’t actually own themselves, or just don’t like. In other words, they really will be able to make our reality what they want it to be — exactly as it is done in Turkey, Egypt, Venezuela, Russia, and everywhere else except places where individual liberty and freedom are still paramount.

And it seems we are leaving that group, just as we left our spot controlling the Pacific trade, and scientific research into climate change, and astrophysics, and genetic research. I wonder if, in a few years, we’ll even know where we stand in the world unless we find a way to watch BBC, or France24, or SkyNews, or EuroNews where freedom to speak without corporate or government control will, hopefully, still exist.

This story was originally published December 16, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Sunday, December 17, 2017."