By Michael J. Tittinger Mike Tittinger is a regular columnist who lives in Santa Monica.
Love is in the air, everywhere I look. Just about everyone in Santa Monica had an opinion on the issues leading up to Election Day, and unabashedly shared it. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never felt so loved since I’ve lived here — neighbors knocking on my door with free paper propaganda, mailboxes full each day with sleek brochures addressed to “Resident” and telephone messages by the bushel.
Even the president was asking for our support, well, actor Martin Sheen, who plays the president on TV’s “The West Wing.” The thrill, however, was tempered a bit by his insistence on talking about the proposed living wage ordinance. Truth be told, the recorded conversation was a bit one-sided.
But while we look forward to reclaiming our privacy and our greenscape (from all the political booster signs littering our lawns), we should strive to retain some of the spirit of the day. Be it for self-serving interests or global philanthropy, public discussion of the issues concerning each of us each day is a good thing. Little in life gets solved without talking about it, and as a community, as neighbors (and maybe someday as a family), we here in Santa Monica need to talk things out; to stay in touch with those around us. If our neighbors were worth soliciting votes from, surely they are worth continuing a dialogue with on a consistent basis in regards to the issues that touch us all; for change is not affected only in November but year-round.
It is fitting that the city is retrofitting itself for the holiday season. Storefronts are strewing icicle lights across their window displays, as-yet-to-be decorated evergreens are finding their way into office lobbies and Hollywood prop-style ice pillars have been installed at the Third Street Promenade in anticipation of Christmas. While most scoff at the outright commercialism of the holidays, I say bring it on. Retailers’ intentions are obvious — to sell more wares to more people over an ever-extending holiday season. But Christmas and its anticipated approach also has a warming effect on most, instilling us with a sense of awareness about the less fortunate around us, whether we pay it any attention or not amid our cattle drive to stores and malls.
But there is such a thing as “the Christmas spirit,” and most of us observers have felt it in one form or another. It is an emotional time that stirs memories of those we love and those we’ve lost. And at its best, it is a time that prompts us to view our fellow human beings with a sense of charity in our hearts. Mostly, it is a time we think of others, often putting them before ourselves. That’s the Christmas spirit, and each January, when the decorations seem suddenly stale, and the uprooted evergreens are awaiting trash pickup, we lament the end of the season.
But what are we really lamenting? No more packages to open? No more decorative lights shining hope into the night sky? No more homemade cookies and stocking stuffers? I think, in our heart of hearts, it’s a return to the norm; a return to the self-serving rat race where charity towards others is often an afterthought. I think it’s the relinquishing of a spirit that instilled us, albeit temporarily, with love for our fellow people. It’s a feeling we struggle to hold on to as the world around us seems perfectly content to revert back to the way it was prior to the holiday push.
But how many times have you wished that the season could last forever, not just as a child opening toys, but as an adult cognizant of the power that brought loved ones together to revel and celebrate? Most of us have gotten caught up in the blatant commercialism and store lines and muttered that we “hate Christmas” or “never again,” yet we always come back. It’s not because we enjoy running to malls or hearing the running-on-a-loop carols that begin permeating our psyches after the umpteenth playing. It’s mostly because we love other people in our lives and we want to show them we do. Buying presents is the cheap and easy way out, as opposed to showing affection and interest year-round, but it is an effort all the same. And, in the end, it makes us feel good to give. It truly is better to give than to receive.
So I say bring on the lights and the trees and the inevitable panhandlers with Santa hats, because if just a glimpse of the things associated with Christmas can alter our approach and interaction with others, then it is a good thing. Forget the lost meaning of the holiday stuff. We can use the crass commercialization in our favor, as a tool to remind us that we need to retain that Christmas spirit 365 days a year.
In the same vein, I implore the politicians and the boosters and all the voters of Santa Monica to retain the impassioned spirit that they displayed in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s election. And while we will all be glad that the mailers and phone calls and door-to-door visits will cease, we would appreciate the interest in our opinions and the opportunities to discuss them freely with our neighbors.
Let’s hold on to that pro-active spirit, whether it rewards us with a vote in our interest or not. In the end, the rewards will be self-evident.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 7, 2002. Read the original PDF.