Category: Observations

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.

 

This annual secular homily is Buffett’s last as CEO.  It is eight pages filled with reminisces, friendships and observations.   At 95, his perspective of life’s lessons has universal relevance.

I have added the subheads and boldings to the excerpts below.

A Story about a CEO’s Mistake

In 1985, when Don was president of Coke, the company launched its ill-fated New Coke. Don made a famous speech in which he apologized to the public and reinstated “Old” Coke. This change of heart took place after Don explained that Coke incoming mail addressed to “Supreme Idiot” was promptly delivered to his desk. His “withdrawal” speech is a classic and can be viewed on YouTube. He cheerfully acknowledged that, in truth, the Coca-Cola product belonged to the public and not to the company. Sales subsequently soared.

The Joy of  Omaha as Home

Can it be that there is some magic ingredient in Omaha’s water?

I lived a few teenage years in Washington, DC (when my dad was in Congress) and in 1954 I took what I thought would be a permanent job in Manhattan. There I was treated wonderfully by Ben Graham and Jerry Newman and made many life-long friends. New York had unique assets – and still does.

Nevertheless, in 1956, after only 1½ years, I returned to Omaha, never to wander again. Subsequently, my three children, as well as several grandchildren, were raised in Omaha. My children always attended public schools (graduating from the same high school that educated my dad (class of 1921), my first wife, Susie (class of 1950) as well as Charlie, Stan Lipsey, Irv and Ron Blumkin, who were key to growing Nebraska Furniture Mart, and Jack Ringwalt (class of 1923), who founded National Indemnity and sold it to Berkshire in 1967 where it became the base upon which our huge P/C operation was constructed.

Our country has many great companies, great schools, great medical facilities and each definitely has its own special advantages along with talented people. But I feel very lucky to have had the good fortune to make many lifelong friends, to meet both of my wives, to receive a great start in education at public schools, to meet many interesting and friendly adult Omahans when I was very young, and to make a wide variety of friends in the Nebraska National Guard.

In short, Nebraska has been home. Looking back I feel that both Berkshire and I did better because of our base in Omaha than if I had resided anywhere else. The center of the United States was a very good place to be born, to raise a family, and to build a business. Through dumb luck, I drew a ridiculously long straw at birth. . .

Luck in Life

But Lady Luck is fickle and – no other term fits – wildly unfair. In many cases, our leaders and the rich have received far more than their share of luck – which, too often, the recipients prefer not to acknowledge. Dynastic inheritors have achieved lifetime financial independence the moment they emerged from the womb, while others have arrived, facing a hell-hole during their early life or, worse, disabling physical or mental infirmities that rob them of what I have taken for granted. In many heavily-populated parts of the world, I would likely have had a miserable life and my sisters would have had one even worse.

I was born in 1930 healthy, reasonably intelligent, white, male and in America. Wow! Thank you, Lady Luck. My sisters had equal intelligence and better personalities than I but faced a much different outlook. Lady Luck continued to drop by during much of my life, but she has better things to do than work with those in their 90s. Luck has its limits. . .

Father Time is Undefeated

Father Time, to the contrary, now finds me more interesting as I age. And he is undefeated; for him, everyone ends up on his score card as “wins.” When balance, sight, hearing and memory are all on a persistently downward slope, you know Father Time is in the neighborhood.. . .

The Lasting Influence of Mothers

Fortunately, all three children received a dominant dosage of their genes from their mother. As the decades have passed, I have also become a better model for their thinking and behavior. I will never, however, achieve parity with their mother . .

A Word for His Children

I have assured my children that they do not need to perform miracles nor fear failures or disappointments. These are inevitable, and I have made my share. They simply need to improve somewhat upon what generally is achieved by government activities and/or private philanthropy, recognizing these other methods of redistribution of wealth have shortcomings as well.. .

On CEO Salaries

During my lifetime, reformers sought to embarrass CEOs by requiring the disclosure of the compensation of the boss compared to what was being paid to the average employee. Proxy statements promptly ballooned to 100-plus pages compared to 20 or less earlier.

But the good intentions didn’t work; instead they backfired. Based on the majority of my observations – the CEO of company “A” looked at his competitor at company “B” and subtly conveyed to his board that he should be worth more. Of course, he also boosted the pay of directors and was careful who he placed on the compensation committee.

The new rules produced envy, not moderation. The ratcheting took on a life of its own. What often bothers very wealthy CEOs – they are human, after all – is that other CEOs are getting even richer. Envy and greed walk hand in hand. And what consultant ever recommended a serious cut in CEO compensation or board payments?

A Few Final Thoughts

Greatness does not come about through accumulating great amounts of money, great amounts of publicity or great power in government. When you help someone in any of thousands of ways, you help the world. Kindness is costless but also priceless. Whether you are religious or not, it’s hard to beat The Golden Rule as a guide to behavior.

J write this as one who has been thoughtless countless times and made many mistakes but also became very lucky in learning from some wonderful friends how to behave better (still a long way from perfect, however). Keep in mind that the cleaning lady is as much a human being as the Chairman. . .

I wish all who read this a very happy Thanksgiving. Yes, even the jerks; it’s never too late to change. Remember to thank America for maximizing your opportunities. But it is – inevitably – capricious and sometimes venal in distributing its rewards.

Choose your heroes very carefully and then emulate them. You will never be perfect, but you can always be better.

Thanksgiving is about gratitude.  The many moments in life that we experience joy, hope, and beauty.

Appreciate the special  comfort from being with those for whom you care and who care for you.

May your sense of purpose and goodwill be renewed.  Gratitude will make everyone around you feel love.

 

In life, both  fiction and for real, we often do not know the full story until the last chapter.

Yesterday, a funeral service filled with gratitude opend this new week for my wife and me. Not just a memorial service, but also “The Celebration of Life and Service of Witness to the Resurrection.”

What do those last four words mean?

Funerals are brief and often insightful summaries of what made the person unique-not just as an identity, but also for a life lived.  The full story completed.

For non-family members, the service provides a brief glimpse of the arc of a person’s life by those who, in most cases, knew them best.  When one is not family, we often are only aware of brief moments of familiarity that rarely capture one’s full story.

Gratitude

This service was for a mother of two girls, who divorced in the early 1970’s, raised the family  by herself while earning an MBA and pursuing a career.  Life was filled with job changes and relocations to make ends meet.

My wife and I only knew her as a grandmother, who sang in the choir, volunteered in the Opportunity Shop, and was a full time caregiver for her grandchild, raised by her own single mother.

Her life was defined in her family’s remarks, as one of unconditional acceptance of others, care and service to the community.

Not Owners, but Stewards

There is a saying among farmers that the land they cultivate is not theirs.  They are stewards of the legacy they inherited. They are not owners free to do whatever they want with the property.  Rather their ultimate obligation is to manage the land so the legacy continues to benefit future generations.

This is similar to the belief motivating and sustaining many credit union leaders past and present.

But it also portrays one of life’s realities for all.

How one spends their most precious asset, their limited years, becomes their legacy.  Family will recall, as they did on Sunday, the  experiences that influenced them as children, grandchildren pr as a brother.

In the service bulletin was a note that offered suggestions if someone wanted to make a donation to honor the person’s memory.  Chosen by the family, this list is a glimpse pf the person’s priorities in life:

• The Hunger Program of the Presbyterian Church
• The Lupus Foundation of America
• Your local food bank.

This is how the family  suggests others support the values the person lived in her life.

This list is for gifts of thanks giving. It is how the family wants their mother ‘s actions and priorities remembered.  And passed on.

This Sunday service was not just a celebration of past deeds  It was a pivot to  how a person’s example will continue to shape the future. Through family and friends.  It is why funerals matter.  We will all have one.