Category: Observations

American democracy has a unique capacity for creating and then honoring martyrs for its freedoms.  This weekend we celebrate one person who gave his life for our professed ideals.

This vigil honors a current person’s sacrifice.  It is a community gathering to  remember a woman who also believed in America’s promise.

One of America’s most powerful patriotic anthems was written by a woman Julia Ward Howe in 1861.

For the persons gathering above, they will sing, as she died to make us holy, let us live to make all free. 

Renee Good’s truth will cause millions to march on.

A mother of three.

Went on a christian mission to another country.

Stood up for her neighbors with whistles.

Was shot three times by a federal government employee, gun in one hand, cell phone in the other.

She made herself vulnerable to protect the vulnerable.

A presbyterian who followed her conscience with faith.

In death, she  inspires hope and conviction in us.

Power cannot silence her witness.

Her name will call forth the best that America represents.

And the ideals that its citizens will sometimes die for. Unasked and never forgotten.

She was indeed good.

One of the joys of the holiday season is receiving cards and messages from friends near and far.

These life updates tell of the many family ups and downs of our generation.  Occasionally they include special words of insight.

The following is an annual poem created  by husband Joe for his wife Zuki.  It reflects on the traditional effort to find just the right Christmas present, which is the same theme in O Henry’s short story The Gift of the Magi.  

The final stanza honors the most important gift we have, which is each other.

I Gave  You a Walking Stick

by Joe McLaughlin

I gave you a walking stick

Like the one you used to own,

And you gave me two turtlenecks

Like the ones that I’ve outgrown.

 

And so our Christmas gifts this year

Were ones each knew the other needed

Not new additions to our store

But useful ones that we’ve repeated.

 

O’Henry’s lovers’ gifts were rare

 But useless, which was their surprise.

Though they were young, they learned that year

How foolish love confounds the wise.

 

Our useful gifts are small but add

To what we can’t have too much of,

 For years behind and years ahead,

Reminders of our life-long love.

 

            Christmas Day, 2025

 

 

 

How some observors are thinking about this year’s  priorities.  And how these ideas may influence credit unions.

The Personal–From a LinkedIn Post

I am longing for a community built on shared purpose and effort.  

Trump Proposes One Year Cap on Credit Card Interest Rates at 10%

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiRsApI2Zxg)

 

I’m Sick of Stupid

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWV2lr-xT-M)

An Analogy: How Real Strength is Created for Credit Unions and in World Politics

[The] strategic capital built over decades is now being squandered. And in the long run, an America (read credit unions) that behaves like an utterly self-interested predator on the world stage (in the coop system) will not grow stronger; it will grow lonelier. 

Allies will hedge. Partners will search for options. Neutrals will inch away. And the rebalancing that history predicted all along may finally arrive — not because America (credit  unions) became weak, but because it (they)forgot the real source of its (their) strength.

One Assessment of Today;s Credit Union Movement

Dangerous Memories, Royal Consciousness, and Galactic Empires

This is the 12^th day after Christmas.  In the Christian tradition this is the moment the three Wise Men came to the baby Jesus with their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh,

Only Matthew  of the four gospels has this story.  Most of the details are from tradition and not the Bible.

This spare account has given rise to numerous theological  interpretations. A traditional one is that this event first signifies that the Jesus’ life was for the entire world not just the Jewish community.

The central action is kneeling to present the Wise Men’s gifts.  And  many commentaries about this passage discuss  how difficult and yet important is offering the proper gift to a person or for a special occasion.

O. Henry’s short story, The Gift of the Magi, is an insightful interpretation of rhe meaning of gifts. It tells how a young couple, living in want, try to find the perfect present for each other at Christmas. The woman sells her waist long  long hair to a whig store to have enough money to purchase a fob chain for her husband’s family pocket watch.  He in turn sells his watch to buy special combs for her long, beautiful hair.

There is nothing in O. Henry’s account of kings or mangers or gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Rather it portrays love’s selfless giving for another person.

Epiphany’s Secular Meaning

A more frequent use of the word epiphany is a sudden insight, an awakening or unexpected moment of meaning.

The world today overwhelms many beit from the personal to the national or even global events. Many are uncertain how  to live  what some might call our authentic selves.  That is a sense of purpose or meaning or accomplishment that gets us out of bed each morning. How can I make a difference?

Everyone seeks to enhance their role in life just as the Shepard boy in the Christmas chorale asks, What gift can I give him poor as I am?

O. Henry’s story suggests this desire is not about material accomplishments, although that is often our first response.

Recently at the intermission in a live holiday stage musical, I heard the following conversation between persons sitting next to me.  One was a young man out of college, the second his grandpa.  The conversation went something like this: S: grandson; G: Grandpa

S:  I have signed up for a bone marrow donation in a couple of weeks. 

G:  Isn’t that painful? 

S:   They will drill two holes in my hip bones to extract the marrow.  But they give you anesthetic the whole time.

G:  How did you get called for this?

S:  When we donated blood on a drive last spring in college, they asked if we wanted to be a donor, and I checked yes.  Then I was called they had found a match.

G:  Do you know anything about the patient?  What is the disease? 

S:  I know she is 16 has a cancer called aplastic anemia.

G:  Will you get to meet her? 

S:  If everything goes OK, I could see her in about a year.

The second half of the play began, ending the talk.

This conversation gave me a feeling of great hope.  Here is young person starting out in life and career, giving the gift of life to someone he does not know.

This brief event was an unexpected, almost liminal experience. These two youngsters have  discovered a way of living and giving that many need the entire arc  of life to learn.  With character like this, our future is in good hands.

 

 

On the Potomac in DC

Morning rises

December 24, 1914 on the front lines of the British-French and German trenches, peace and goodwill broke out.

It is a happening which was considered insignificant in light of millions of subsequent deaths. Today it has become a symbol for what happens when humans recognize the humanity of even their enemies. It is a story that needs to be told 365 days a year.

Here are three retellings of the event followed by an historical account.

1. As told in a Sainsbury commercial in 2014.  After this “commercial” finishes, there is a trailer about  the film’s production. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM&t=11s)

2. A Christmas Eve 2025 sermon at Memorial Church Harvard Universiverty tells details of this unique pause.  The sermon starts at minute 35:35.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF84gdah0C4&t=33s)

3, The event as told in a folk song written by John McCutcheon, Christmas in the Trenches, November 2008: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJi41RWaTCs&t=41s)

The Day the Gods Were On Duty

The account from the World War Military History site includes quotes from the soldiers who were present.   The story opens with scenes from the Sainsbury commercial, but later includes actual interviews with soldiers who witnessed the truce and  newspaper accounts from that time.

” It’s hard to believe in dreams until it happens to us.” (from the sermon)

 

Garrison Keillor calls Christmas a gift to America.

I agree. It causes us to pause, for  just a moment from life’s routines ,and experience something different, perhaps deeply comforting.

A Season for Sharing

The season brings familiar sounds that set the tone for the entire month.  Our local classical station, WETA, plays only Christmas arrangements for the week prior to the 25th.

This year Joan and I sing in two Messiah concerts. The second  will be tomorrow on stage at the annual Kennedy Center’a community sing along with a full house of 2,500.  The event is so anticipated that before the free online ticket distribution now, singers would start lining  up at 5:00 AM the day the tickets were handed out.

Familiar music is just one element creating  a more generous mood.  Gifts are not limited to those near or dear.  The heightened community spirit attracts solicitations of non-profits seeking support for efforts addressing multiple social needs.

Yesterday’s special Joy offering at church included four options: funds for retired ministers and staff, a DC charity serving immigrants, an area food bank or a 35-year partnership with Shokoho a Kenyan grade school in a remote farming area.

The postman brings requests from local organizations such as public broadcasting to worldwide–Doctors Without Borders.  Every not-for-profit with which one has had some contact in life from colleges, museums, theaters, volunteer organizations and of course local medical providers remind us of prior associations.

Christmas brings forth people’s charitable instincts inspired by the spirit of the season. And sometimes assisted by yearend tax considerations.

A Time to Reflect

In addition to Messiah,  the other anticipated event are performances of Charles Dickens  A Christmas Carol.   HIs characters Marley, Cratchit, Tiny Tim and especially Scrooge reflect the many circumstances still present today.

We saw a trational version that featured over 30 local performers at the Silver Spring Stage.  The  cast of all ages played to sold out audiences.

In this year’s adaptation the author showed that all three visits by the ghosts of Christmas’s past, present and future are necessary to understanding Scrooge’s character.

Every person, or organization has a legacy, present priorities and future aspirations.   Meaning and purpose combine all three.  If we overlook or are not aware of our past, present actions lose context and future efforts open-ended.

Understanding how we and the organizations to which we belong navigate the timeline we all travel is essential for meaning. And future hope.

A contemporary Wall Street representation of Dickens take is the 2000 movie The Family Man starring Nicolas Cage.  Past, present and future are all in one story, one person.  But unlike Scrooge’s awakening, this character’s future seems less clear.

This film captures our current era when meaning is secondary to personal and corporate triumph.  The film might even seem familiar to sponsors of  certain recent credit union transactions.

The Giving that Matters

Another reminder of this season is O Henry’s short story The Gift of the Magi.

It was published in 1905 during a period of political awakening to growing disparities in wealth and living circumstances.   It is a story of a couple with no means searching for special christmas gifts for each.   There is no reference to gold, frankincense or myrrh.

Rather it is a story about the most valuable gift anyone can offer another.

Garrison Keilor went on to describe why he called this season a gift to America:   We experience a festival of kindness, and I sense this on the streets of New York and in the subway, I feel it in airports, the TSA agents take on a gentler tone, people are keenly aware of the elderly, the halt and lame, small children, the lost and confused, and if this strikes you as naïve, I apologize but it’s how this old man sees things.

I would only add that is how most commentators have seen this season throughout the ages.  Sometimes the arc of life can bring wisdom, hopefully not only in old age.

From Bloomberg.com on December 17, 2025

The wealthiest dynasties in the world have never been richer The story of the world’s wealthiest families over the past year underscores one financial truism: size matters. The 25 richest families are collectively $358.7 billion richer than a year ago, with a combined fortune totaling $2.9 trillion. Their wealth surged due to rising stock prices and demand for goods like metals and pet food, but also thanks to the clout and experience they’ve accrued over decades.

The Opposite End of Wealth

 

 

A Messiah rehearsal with the New Dominion Chorale. Tom Beveridge, the Music Director-Conductor  for 35 years, prepares his final concert.

Holiday gift collection at St. Luke Catholic Church (VA)

Responses after Sunday’s three masses

As at the first Christmas; political activity at the DC holiday market.

The Advent candles with  a canned food drive at Arlington Presbyterian Church (VA)

Why Christmas matters still

 

 

An early snow with temperatures below average.

The weather didn’t hinder this Santa’s journey.

National Gallery of Art reception decorated with music and nature.

Statue of Mercury at the Gallery fountain.

The beauty of poinsettias and red berry.