At certain times, we find ourselves caught in a curious paradox: I want to do a meaningful thing, to be involved in this or that important occasion, yet it’s just so hard. How can an activity I care so much about still be so difficult — even to the point of being off-putting?

Depending on what’s at the forefront of your mind, this could sound like a description of your political or family life. There’s a presidential election coming next year (as you may have heard), and it is important: Why then is it so discouraging to think about doing your part? And soon you’ll be gathering with family for Christmas: You may want — even need — to do it, yet is there anything more stressful to contemplate sometimes?

In each case, the phenomenon is the same. Both situations come down to the possibility of change in a broken world. We want to believe that transformation, personal and social, is possible, yet we have a strong hunch it might not be. Is there anything more hopelessly gridlocked than contemporary politics and culture? And in the family setting, as we reenter our natural habitats, why would we think things could ever be different? All the old wounds, burdens, and complicated memories are there: My mother will of course expect me to do X, which I hate, and my cousins will certainly go into Y in their usual way. None of this will ever change. Can’t we just stay home this year for Christmas and sit out the election cycle?

Against such a backdrop, the undying popularity of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol makes sense. The little book has never been out of print since Dickens first wrote it in 1843, and as we know, it has been repeated, rehashed, and reimagined in countless films, TV adaptations, stage productions, public readings, parodies, and so forth.

These are signs of some essential good thing we desire, abiding and profound, that A Christmas Carol gets at. Part of that desirable good is wrapped up in its picture of human transformation. Inside the story, the drastic about-face undertaken by Ebenezer Scrooge seems possible, despite all the odds. Change, we think as we read or watch, can happen. A Christmas Carol strikes us as an expression of hope in a dark time. (Read more from “The Everyday Hope of a ‘Christmas Carol’ Is That the World Can Change Because We Can” HERE)

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While Americans consistently rank Christmas as the most important holiday, followed by the Fourth of July, the importance of Memorial Day is “rated higher than ever,” according to new a Rasmussen Reports poll.

More than half of American adults (51 percent) consider Memorial Day, which is for honoring those who have died while serving in the U.S. military, as one of the nation’s most important holidays. That percentage is up from 47 percent last year and is the highest percentage recorded since Rasmussen began asking about Memorial Day.

Thirty-seven percent of those polled say Memorial Day is “somewhere in between” and a small 7 percent say it is one of the nation’s least important holidays.

Rasmussen Reports surveyed 1,086 American adults between May 16-18 with a ±3 percent margin of error at the 95 percent confidence level. Of those respondents, 18 percent report having served in the U.S. military, while 80 percent have not. Forty percent of respondents say they have close friends or relatives who gave their lives while serving in the military. (Read more from “Poll: Importance of Memorial Day ‘Rated Higher Than Ever’” HERE)

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Millions of Americans might have been dreaming of a white Christmas, but surely nothing like this.

The brutal winter storm that has cloaked much of the U.S. with a coating of snow and ice will continue into the week as festive travelers see cancelled flights and dangerous roads combining to make their travels a misery.

The death toll is also rising with weather-related deaths standing at 34 on Monday morning.

AP reports the massive storm is expected to claim more lives after trapping some residents inside houses and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.

The extreme weather stretched from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the border with Mexico.

Millions of Americans woke on Christmas morning to confront damage from the frigid winter storm that has killed at least 18 people over the past 48-hours. https://t.co/yvDHH203zw

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) December 25, 2022

(Read more from “Deadly US Winter Storm Maintains Its Icy Grip, Claims at Least 34 Lives” HERE)

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