Humpty Dumpty

Festive wreaths adorned with crimson ribbons are appearing on the doors; the narrow supermarket aisles are flooded with wagons filled with sacks of flour, sugar and other baking supplies.

Sirius Radio has inaugurated its Holiday Channel, and Santa Claus is coming to town.

But this year will be remembered not for the Holidays, but as the December of 2015.

Sadly, sometimes life changes forever as Humpty Dumpty discovered. I have to admit that it took half a century before I realized how wealthy I was as a child. My riches were not material, but rather woven of time and love, words often synonymous.

Every night of my life until I began to attend school my Father read not a page, nor a chapter, but an entire book to me. In the earliest years he recited every nursery rhyme ever recorded. I was nurtured and fed intravenously on beautiful tales of mythical characters. At the time I was unaware of the lessons he was teaching me. While some of the tales had happy storybook endings; others, such as poor Humpty Dumpty or even Jack who broke his Crown were realistic. I never investigated the history of the folklore that inspired all the stories that have been passed down through generations, but the lessons they taught have remained deeply embedded in my being.

And while all the King’s Horses and all the King’s Men were never able to put Humpty Dumpty together again, so it is this December of 2015. Something has changed forever in our land.

The numbers 9 and 11 will never again be mere digits, but will always recall a day of horror that American had never experienced before.

The joyous excitement of the wondrous Boston Marathon will sadly be recorded in History for the Massacre of 2013.

And now the beautiful city of San Bernardino named for Bernardino of Sienna, also once known as The Friendly City, will forevermore be known as the place where Terrorism changed our world.

Tragically, everything that is broken cannot be repaired. And this is one of the occasions when the injection of fear that was released on December 2, 2015 will leave a scar as deeply embedded as Jack’s broken crown when he toppled down the hill.

America will recover. We are a strong people and Christmas and Hanukkah will still be celebrated. We will hold each other more closely, and love more openly because we know how precious life is. But our world is different now, and something we had perhaps not cherished enough, serenity, has been lost forever.