Carlos Santana, a POCA at age 72, explained his approach to life to the AARP magazine this year. “It’s like everything in life right now; it has to do with being in the right place at the right time. The universe will bring you an abundance of opportunities and possibilities. It’s really all about trusting that before you got there, when you were sleeping, the universe was conspiring to give you something to blow your mind. Would you be open to receive it?”
Later in the interview, “I wanted to sound like B.B. King and Otis Rush and all of the people I loved. [I would] go into a closet, turn the lights off and play, and try to sound like them. And then I didn’t sound like them. I sounded like me. I didn’t realize that it was a blessing instead of a curse. But when I stopped trying to sound like somebody else and really paid attention to me, I heard that sound that goes through all people’s hearts.”
There is a rich history to the celebration of Hanukkah, dating back to Judas Maccabeus in the 2nd century B.C.E. One part of the story involves a miracle: a one-day supply of oil burning for eight days. The core of the message of the season seems to me to be about freedom and the regaining of self-determination as a people. The freedom, though, was not only of an individual but of a people who, then, in community, worshipped their God and exercised the right of self-determination.
Miracles and acting in community for common purposes we decide for ourselves; are we open to receive these?
The Christmas season celebrates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, known to his followers as the Messiah. Christians would substitute “God” for Santana’s “the universe.” They, too, believe in a miracle, a virgin birth, and characterize Jesus as the “Son of God,” God being defined as “love.” Jesus’ messianic mission is, through the spreading of love, to bring humanity back into the presence of God.
Miracles and loving all people as children of God; are we open to receive these?
Kwanzaa was created by Dr. Maulana Karenga in 1966 as an antidote to the racial strife abroad in the country at that time; a way to affirm African family and social values. There are seven principles celebrated in the observance of Kwanzaa: unity, self-determination, collective responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Kwanzaa is not viewed as a substitute for Christmas.
I am not aware that Dr. Karenga cited any miracles in the formulation of the principles of Kwanzaa though his hope was that all seven principles would become common practice. Acting in unity, in community, for common purposes we decide for ourselves; are we open to receive these?
A recent political cartoon in the Star-Advertiser featured a locomotive speeding to nowhere in particular. On its side was the name of the train: “the Polarized Express.” How appropriate that a train so named would be speeding toward nowhere!
If Santana is right, that there is an “abundance of opportunities and possibilities,” why are we polarized? Perhaps he answers that question by noting how he tried to “sound like B.B. King and Otis Rush.” To what extent have people given in to unquestioningly echoing their favored political leaders, whose business it is to create conditions which only they can address, rather than listening to “the sound that goes through all people’s hearts” in their own hearts?
What might that sound be?
People of a Certain Age, do you remember…”I got a hammer, I got a bell, and I gotta a song to sing, all over this land? It’s the hammer of justice, it’s the bell of freedom, it’s a song about love between my brothers and my sisters, all over this land.” (Peter, Paul and Mary)
Certainly, Santana speaks about a song. Surely, the song is one we all can sing, in our own voices, sounding like our unique selves. Hopefully we have hammers of justice (equal access for all to the opportunities in our society), bells of freedom (tempered by fairness), and a love between all our brothers and sisters, no matter their race, religion, political party or choice of automobile (thank you, Ellen DeGeneres).
Song is central to the celebration of Christmas. Angels, we are told, sang “glory to God in the highest and peace to all.” Carols convey joy, awe, wonder, and the warmth of family.
Be it blood relatives or a chosen one, family is at the center of all three celebrations.
Light, too, is a constant in these celebrations, candles being a part of Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, and the Star in the East lighting the way for the three wise men. Our society today could use a lot less heat and a lot more light.
A hammer of justice, a bell of freedom, songs, family, light, our unique voices, community, miracles, love; Santana is right about an abundance of opportunities and possibilities. The December holidays are a chance every year to answer his question: are we open to that abundance?
Daniel E. White
December 23, 2019