DANNY - THE COHORT EXPLORES CHRISTMAS
On a Monday in the middle of December and before class started, I asked Sam how we would be celebrating Christmas. He said, “By taking a two-week vacation.” He responded, and I continued, “I’m serious, back in ol’ Mississippi, Christmas was about the only time of year when people, and even boy-people, worked to be nice to one another. Gordo said most of his family would think our school couldn't be good if we didn't celebrate the birth of Jesus, so he never mentions our school this time of year when he’s home. So…?” When Sam just gave me a blank look, I said, “Could we talk about that in our cohort?”
The next day, he brought up the idea this way: “Some of you would like to discuss Christmas because of comments you’ve heard from family members. As I’m sure you know, we do not teach or preach any definitive ideas about religion or other sets of beliefs. We want all of our students to be free thinkers, so what do you think about this idea: Starting next Monday, each one of us will share what we’ve learned about Christmas as we were growing up and observing our family’s ideas and customs, and what are your own family's current ways of celebrating Christmas? And if you do not want to do that, then share with us why not. How’s that?” Everyone agreed it would be interesting, and Gordo and Elie volunteered to go first on Monday.
So on Monday, Elie got it going, “My Dad and Mom are Catholics, and I was baptized in that religion, and the only time we go to church is on Christmas. We go to the Midnight Mass here in Monte Vista, and it is really nice. It is quite a production; everyone sings the traditional Christmas hymns, and a good choir sings special songs, and the pastor, Father Grady, is the center of attention, and I think he is supposed to be like Jesus at the so-called Last Supper and changes some wafers and wine into the body and blood of Jesus. Last year, I got my grandma and grandpa upset when I said that changing the wafer into Jesus’s body and wine into his blood was just a symbolic change, not a real one. I was told that I was a heretic. I don’t know what that is, but it is terrible, and they made me cry. So, I think that’s the reason they are not visiting us this year. Anyway, I think that they, my grandparents, believe that Jesus was God and continues to be God, and I don’t understand it at all, and I don’t care. My Dad thinks Jesus was a very enlightened man, kind of like Gandhi or Martin Luther King, but he never says anything about his beliefs when Mom’s parents are around. Last Christmas, he got angry at Mom’s folks when they made me cry. He did his best to be a peacemaker. So, I don’t know what to believe about Christmas. I like to think of it as a joyful celebration of life and love, as Dad says. I’m interested in what all your families feel about Christmas. Oh, and please don’t tell anyone about what I said about my family.
Gordo turned to Sam and asked, “Do you want me to go now or talk about Elie’s story?” Sam asked Elie, and she said, “I’d like to wait until we hear more reports, if that’s okay.” Sam raised his hand and said, “I agree with Elie. How about the rest of you?” All but two agreed with Sam and Elie. They said they didn’t care, so Gordo, began, “My grandma and my mom just believe that Christmas just celebrates the fact, and they really mean ‘fact’, that Jesus, the human Son of God, was born of a Virgin Mother named Mary who was married to a young man named Joseph who took care of Mary and her newborn baby named Jesus and all the other stuff good believing Catholics are told they must believe if they want to go to heaven. I don’t think my grandpa and my pa say anything at all about religion, so I don’t know what they think. Both of them go to church with the women and all of the children, including me, but they sit out front on the church steps. I don’t say anything about all that. So, well, I don’t have much to report. I kinda like what Evie’s dad says.”
Joe Jackson jumped in, “I’ll go, but I really don’t have much to report. My mom doesn’t go to church at all and seems to be more generous and fun to be with around Christmas time. She never talks about her growing-up family; she goes around doing what everyone else does. I asked her about what she thought about Christmas and our assignment, and she said, “I thought I was sending you to a school where you would become a free thinker. What’s this all about? They try’n to make a damn Christian outta you?” He stood up, put his right forearm above his eyes as if he were hiding, and said, “Then, I said, ‘No, all of our home group, or cohort, members are asking their family members about Christmas.” Keeping his hiding arm up, he went on, “She told me to tell that Sam fella that he’s full of shit.”
Everybody, including me, laughed our fool heads off. If we had been in Mississippi, Joe would have been expelled for sure. We laughed for several minutes. Olivia, who was sitting next to Joe, kept trying to say something but couldn't calm herself. She finally managed to tell us that her dad would like Joe’s mom and would laugh with us if he were here, and that her mom just wanted the joy and the giving at Christmas, but her dad definitely did not believe in a god who was any kind of puppeteer that would make her a cripple. Olivia told us that her parents and older sister just thought there was a god, and that was all they knew. None of my fellow students seemed to be sure about what we must believe, and I really liked that. I hated the idea that we gotta believe that Jesus was god or we’d go to hell, and I wasn’t ready to say anything yet. I hope I can wait until tomorrow or the next day.
Chris shared that his mom was a history teacher and was now teaching about the history of the winter solstice celebrations over the centuries. He said, “I was astonished when mom said that one of the earliest times was around 2,000 B.C., and was celebrated by several cultures around the Mediterranean Sea and East Asia. The early Christians adopted many practices, such as gift-giving and lighting candles on Dec. 21st. And celebrations of all kinds. As far as we know, it was all very positive, and the Sun was in the center of everything. I think Jesus replaced the sun for the Christians. And no one knows where and when Jesus was born.”
Evie asked Sam if we could ask Chris’s mom to come to our cohort and talk about the history of Christmas. Sam said, “I’m afraid some people would think we are teaching Christianity, so I don’t think it is a good idea. I’ve already gotten two calls about my plan to discuss Christmas. I believe that we humans are spiritual beings capable of becoming very enlightened and loving, and that several religions have beliefs and practices that promote our growth in love and enlightenment. So, Evie, are you ready to have us discuss your family’s traditions?”
Evie pulled out several pages from the shelf under her seat, and I was a bit afraid she was going to start reading to us. She pulled out the third page, and I noticed she or someone had printed a few words: “Save the world and everyone and everything in it and on it. This is the reason we are born and live.“ The words were large and beautifully printed, and she held the page up and turned so everyone could see it. She said, “My dad did this for me after I asked him what Jesus’s message was for us. She then took another page with the names Confucius, Buddha, Lao Tse, Jesus, Mohammed, Gandhi, Tolstoy, St. Francis of Assisi, Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, and many others. My daddy said these people were excellent examples of enlightened humans and exemplars of Jesus and the spirit of Christmas. I want to be like that when I grow up.” I clapped, and everyone else joined me.
We had only a few minutes left in our cohort session, so I thanked everyone. I had told them that I had asked Sam about Christmas, and I’m glad he set this up. So thanks again, Sam. Maybe I’ll call you Santa Claus now.
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