The Gift of Time

            December’s Gift to Us Is Worth Remembering

Even as I hustle around and about, looking

for very small Christmas gifts for my siblings

and niece and nephews. I know the price

is supposed to be of small financial value

because the range of their/our money is wide. 

The majority of the adults were/or still are/teachers

in the public schools in Rockford, Illinois.  

            None of them have ever earned buckets of money

as a teacher.  Most of them have saved and spent sensibly,

and now are enjoying their rewards.

            Once a woman at a lovely gathering of church

friends groused vehemently about the unreasonably

lavish pay to teachers and pronounced that she

would never vote to increase their salary.  

            Everyone at the table gasped at her ignorance.  

I knew she owned thousands of dollars of the

kind of equipment that a serious artist buys and uses.

She probably has thousands of dollars of equipment

in her studio much of the time.  I didn’t dislike her,

but I disliked her complete ignorance about the fact

that making art costs money, and that many artists

lose more money than they gain.  Herein lies the truth

that we live in an interesting times.  Occasionally

I remind myself that we all see the world through

different eyes and glasses.    

            May your holidays be filled with joy and love

and respect and awe, your life connected to many  

people in many ways.

Reverend Cynthia Barnes Johnson

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship