Merry Christmas, Alligator Army

Merry Christmas, y’all. You know what’s full.

But you know what? I hope your hearts are full, too.

This is not a holiday I celebrate for religious reasons, personally, but it is one I do not begrudge anyone celebrating for any religious or cultural reasons. The same is true for Hanukkah, now past, or Festivus, a “holiday” popularized by a television program, or Kwanzaa, which begins tomorrow.

You are — almost always — the person who gets to define the most about your world, and you can choose to see light or darkness, to pursue tolerance and understanding or dwell in ignorance and fear, to practice love or hate. (If you do not have that privilege of choice: Understand that you may yet, someday.)

It is my hope that you get to use this holiday season, with time off from jobs and around family and friends, to derive joy or companionship or love from the world and the people in it. It is my experience that not all of us are privileged enough to get to do that.

If you are among the former, keep the latter in your mind and your heart — and consider helping them in this time. If you are among the latter, know that you are not alone.

Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose, right? It is my holiday wish to you that you can and do see this world and those in it with clear eyes, with honestly and humility and understanding rather than prejudice or jaundice. It is my holiday wish to you that you can and do love with a full heart, with compassion limited only by imagination.

If we do both, not just today but every day, we can’t lose. Not ultimately. Not forever.

I love y’all. Go Gators.

Posting will be limited or nonexistent again on Wednesday, and resume a more regular schedule on Thursday. You are not missing anything, trust.