Letters
I’m a comic strip reader. I don’t read them all, just my favorites–Dilbert and FoxTrot, to name a couple. I relate to Dilbert because I have experienced some of the inane work experiences that strip depicts. FoxTrot, on the other hand, speaks to my need to laugh at my self and my family. The strip is a window into the craziness of a married couple and their three children, two of whom are teenagers. Since I have two teenagers, I can relate.
In recent days, the wife in FoxTrot has been sitting at her computer writing the obligatory “Christmas Letter.” Each of the children and the husband have their chance at input, each trying to make themselves and their family look as good as possible (which is quite difficult) to the outside world that will be reading this letter. The last couple of years my wife and I have joked about writing our own letter. It might include such things as “Joey had a new career opportunity handed to him on a pink slip this year.” Or perhaps, “Joey was blessed with a seven-month vacation this year through the generosity of his employer.” It’s always important to make these letters upbeat, you know.
I used to cringe when I received one of these letters, and quite honestly rarely read them all the way through. Sorry, if you’re one of those people who have sent me a letter in recent years. The difficulty is that when my life is sour and going wrong, I have no real desire to hear about how someone else got a promotion and a new house. When my kids are struggling with bad decisions and failures, I don’t want to read about how someone else’s kids just got a scholarship to Harvard and was captain of the football team. I really am happy when things go well in others’ lives, but such good news sometimes causes me to wonder where I went wrong. I start wishing for something different in my life, which, of course is the fast-track to depression. Sorry, those cheery Christmas letters don’t cheer me. What I’m looking for in my mailbox this Christmas is a letter or two that tells about all the year’s failures. Now that would be a cheery letter.
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