So This Is Christmas

I don't know why the title of this John Lennon song popped into my head on Christmas Eve afternoon, but it did. 

The title seems so appropriate this year. Americans are facing record high prices for groceries and many other items. The cost of electricity has increased significantly. People are struggling. And at a time when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, who preached about kindness and concern for others, including immigrants, we have a president who is responsible for the abduction and deportation of thousands upon thousands of brown-skinned people. 

War continues to rage in Ukraine, while the president prepares for an unprovoked war in Venezuela.We have a president and political party who held hostage food assistance hostage for nearly six weeks and treated those who rely on such food assistance hostage for their cruel political goals. 

We have a political party in charge of the US government that absolutely refuses to act, despite its promises to do so, to prevent millions of Americans from being unable to afford their health care premiums. 

So yes, this is Christmas 2025. Congratulations America. You have hit a new high in cruelty.

This Is What I Want For Christmas

Every year, advertisers bombard us with ads for things they think we should want. How about a fancy new car? Maybe a big diamond? 

When my daughter asked me this year what she could get me for Christmas, I told her 'nothing.' There is nothing I need or want. I have all I need. In fact, I am trying to get rid of things. She told me she would like a slow cooker or a set of good knives. So I ordered those things, one each for her December birthday and for Christmas> These things aren't exciting or glamorous, but they are things she needs and wants. So I believe each of these kitchen items is, in fact, 'the perfect gift.'

I have everything I want and everything I need. So here is my new, grown up Christmas wish list. 

l want people who are sick with horrible illnesses to be cured. 

I want children with no families to be adopted. 

I want people to never have to worry about food and shelter and heat. 

I want people in nursing homes to feel wanted and loved. 

I want an end to war and to discrimination and to murder. I want people to live in peace. Sadly, the world remains at war, in Ukraine, in Gaza, and most probably, in Venezuela..

I want people to wake up and realize that planet Earth is our only home, and we need to start taking care of it. 

I want an end to child abuse, to domestic violence, to animal abuse and to elder abuse. 

I want the homeless to have a safe place to live. 

I want all the homeless and unwanted animals to become part of families that will cherish, love and care for them.

 I want a government that actually works for the benefit of the people it is supposed to serve, rather than serving billionaires. 

I want a return to civility and concern for others regardless of their race, ethnicity or religion. 

I want people to care.

This, friends, is my grown-up Christmas wish.

Why

 I never knew Rob Reiner. In fact, I didn't follow his career or the movies he produced. The last time I saw him on television was when he co-starred on the Archie Bunker sitcom All in the Family. 

I didn't know any of the people celebrating the first night of Hanukkah on a beach in Australia. 

I didn't know either of the students shot and killed, or any of the students who were injured, in the shooting in Rhode Island's Brown University. 

I didn't know any of these people. Rob Reiner was the only name I had ever heard. Nevertheless, three senseless attacks on innocent people in two days and in two countries many thousands of miles apart has left me feeling nauseous. I feel tense. I feel tearful. I feel hopeless.

And I keep returning to the same question: why? Why is there so much violence in this world? Why are shootings nearly a daily event in the United States? 

I am not a sociologist, nor am I a psychologist or a psychiatrist. But I have to believe that the constant violent rhetoric spewing from the dictator currently occupying the White House is at least in part to blame for the violence in America. Just look at the statement he issued about the murders of producer/director/actor Rob Reiner and his wife. Rather than expressing sympathy about more senseless deaths, he chose to call him names and denigrate his talent.

Former President Barack Obama issued a statement filled with concern and compassion. Former vice president Kamala Harris issued a similar statement. But the current president? Insults and of course he made it all about himself.

Anti-Semitism has been on the rise for a while, and I doubt if the two shooters in Australia were motivated by the rantings and ramblings of the American president. No, they appear to have been followers of ISIS.

Nothing has been released about the university shootings, and a suspect is still at large. So we have no idea what motivated him. And the shooter is almost certainly a male, most likely a young male. Most shooters in the US are young males. 

The murderer of Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle was none other than their son. Apparently he had struggled with substance abuse for many years. And he used a knife, not a gun, to murder his parents. So this killing didn't fit the mold of so many others in this country. 

People of all ages are victims of gun violence. The shooting victims in Rhode Island were college students in their twenties. The Reinersiners were senior citizens. One of the victims in Australia was a 10-year-old girl. Another was a rabbi. Still another was a Holocaust survivor in his 80s.

Now we have three tragedies with apparently three different causes, but one common outcome. 

So again I ask, why? Why is there so much mental illness in this world? Why is there so much anger? Why is there so much hatred? It doesn't matter the socio-economic status of the killer. The race of the killer and the religion of the killer don't seem to make a difference.

Some killings are personal, as in the case of the Reiners. Some may be retaliation against a co-worker or former wife or girlfriend. Others are completely random, such as theattacks on elementary school children in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. 

But why are there so many killings? If guns aren't readily available, the killers use knives. Or they build explosive devices. 

I have never been able to wrap my head around the proliferation of mass killings. And sadly, I bet I never will.

The Passing of Legends.

Yesterday I learned of the passing of a giant in the world of conservation.

Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton died in Nairobi at the age of 83. Iain had spent 60 years studying and protecting African elephants in Kenya and Tanzania. It was Iain who alerted the world to the massive slaughter of elephants in the 1970s and 1980s. It was Iani who helped the world understand the intelligence, emotions and family bonds of African elephants. Iani founded the Save the Elephants and Elephant Crisis Fund in Kenya. Iain memtored the next generation of elephant scientists.

I had the honor of meeting Iani during two trips to Kenya. He joined those of use staying at Elephant Watch Camp for dinner one evening. Iain's wife had founded Elephant Watch Camp in the Samburu region of Kenya. I don't remember what all we discussed, but I do recall that he talked to us about, and showed us, an app that allowed him and his team to follow elephants that had been fitted with tracking collars. This is important as it allowed researchers to know when elephants were getting too close to local villages and farms, where the pachyderms liked to enjoy the farmers' crops as an all-you-can-eat buffett. It also warned when the elephants were are risk of leaving the Samburu preserve.

The other time I met Iain was when my friend and I happened to visit the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust's elephant orphange in Nairobi. Although he may not have remembered us, he graciously spent a few minutes talking with us and posing for a quick photo.

Iain's conservation legacy will continue through the efforts of daughter Saba Douglas-Hamilton, who has appeared in several BBC series about animals. Saba for a time worked with a rhinoceros rescue group in Namibia, and her annual speaking tour in the United Kingdom frequently sells out. 

It isn't often that one person can have such a massive and widespread impact on the world. Along with Dr. Jane Goodall, Iain changed human understanding of two iconic African species. They raised awareness and I believe, made people care about chimpanzees and African elephants. They inspired young people to follow in their footsteps and continue their work. 

What an amazing legacy these pioneers have left.