The Magic of Christmas Can Overcome All
The magic of Christmas is belief and hope for the future - it isn’t a season but a state of mind
Mis compañeros, amigos, y familiares
Buenos días - feliz navidad. Happy Holidays for those who don’t celebrate Christmas, but maybe recognize other holidays this time of year like Hanukkah.
Early this morning It was 11 degrees with a few inches of snow on the ground as Stormi and I took our walk after literally the longest night of the year. I’ve felt sick this week with chills and fever and it has the potential to put a real damper on the season.
If I take this somewhat bleak description and adjust fire a little - the probability of a white Christmas is very high as is the probability of sitting in front of the fireplace with my family watching It’s a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve! I have no doubt it isn’t as cold as it was in Bastogne in December of 1944 and we only spent 30 minutes in the cold today, they spent weeks in it.
There were a few moments of great joy on Friday when several of my current or former students graduated from West Point and commissioned as 2LTs in the United States Army. I think there were 22 total and something like 6 of them I had in class at one point or another. Many families were literally brought to tears of joy and gratitude which reminded me about what this season is really all about. (Attached is a photo of 2LT Hamilton “Ham” Baker’s bar pinning with his grandma and mother pinning on those 2LT bars while all were in tears).
BLUF: The magic of Christmas is belief and hope for the future - taking from President Coolidge, it isn’t a season but a state of mind. Coming only days after the longest night of the year (at least in the northern hemisphere) it is the reminder that hope springs eternal. As the old Christmas carol goes, Now to the Lord sing praises, All you within this place, And with true love and brotherhood, Each other now embrace; This holy tide of Christmas All other doth deface: O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy, O tidings of comfort and joy.”
The Christmas season often paints a vivid picture: strings of lights hung in windows and doorways, bright colored ornaments on pine trees, gleaming wrapped gifts. Cheerful songs fill the speakers in shops and homes, and scents of fir, clove, and orange linger in the air. These glitzy overtones tend to be our first associations with the holiday season, sometimes blotting out its deeper meaning. As spending around the holidays continues to grow, here’s an increasing concern that the holiday's foundational values of joy, kindness, and community have been supplanted by stress and consumerism. But for many, Christmastime still represents a welcome pause in the year, a time to be a little more grateful for the people around us.
“A true act of goodwill always sparks another” - Klaus (from the movie of the same name)
A message that kindness and service is contagious - a lesson I have learned many times over the years, but is worthy of repeating - one act of kindness leads to another, and another. A powerful message for all of us and it really resonated with me.
I also saw this message regarding St Nick’s example of positivity from Jon Gordon that resonated with me:
7 Reasons Why Santa is a Positive Leader:
He spreads laughter and cheer (Ho, Ho,Ho)
He encourages his reindeer
He rewards nice behavior
He doesn't tolerate (naughty) negativity
He empowers his elves
He's humble and hungry
He inspires us to believe
Since I am a big believer in positive leadership, it might not hurt to be more like Santa!
This quote from Lisa Buscomb reiterates my thoughts this morning, “As the year ends, I want to remind you that life gives you what you need. Lessons and triumphs; hard times, the best of times, and the most mundane of days. So go with the flow. Go with life. Look for the opportunities and the beauty in the small things. Take your time, go slow, and enjoy the moment. Learn from the challenges. Look back with heartfelt gratitude, and go forward with excitement and anticipation. Good things are coming, many challenges are behind you. But most importantly, fall in love with this moment. An ending and a new beginning. A moment in between."
Novelist Edna Ferber once said that “Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling.”
In 1927 President Calvin Coolidge wrote his presidential Christmas message which gets at what Edna Ferber was referring to:
“A Christmas Message to the American People from Calvin Coolidge: Christmas is not a time or a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.” - President Calvin Coolidge
Today I would normally accompany my family to church - but I am really fighting that illness from the past week so I’ll stay home this morning. Undoubtably there will be prayers, a good amount of singing, and a message of hope based off the remembrance of the birth of Christ we celebrate this season.
Christmas Eve and Day are later in the coming week. Our son Blake will be home. We have a Christmas Eve tradition after dinner to read the story of the birth of Jesus Christ from the Bible and then afterwards we watch the 1946 Black and White classic It's a Wonderful Life starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed.
My wife used to have us dress up as shepherds and wise men and wander the neighborhood in search of the babe lying in the manger - I am both thankful for that to emphasize the meaning of Christmas, but also thankful we don’t do that anymore.
If you have never seen, It's a Wonderful Life, I do highly recommend it - I am sure it is on demand / streaming somewhere, or I feel like NBC tends to show it on Christmas Eve. We have the VHS, but no TV that we can plug that old video into anymore.
The movie turns 78 this holiday season - that means I definitely wasn’t around when it premiered only a year after the end of World War II, but its message of hope and selflessness during despair remains as relevant as ever. It is a real leadership case study.
The movie centers on George Bailey, a dissatisfied man contemplating suicide. For those who don't remember or know the story, I will give an awesomely simplistic summary:
George Bailey has consistently demonstrated tremendous character throughout his life. He has sacrificed selflessly for others time and time again. On Christmas Eve, he has a crisis and he again sees the need to sacrifice (his Uncle Billy really made the mistake, but George as the leader assumed responsibility) and he contemplates committing suicide as his nemesis suggests he was "worth more dead than alive".
But as George stands on a bridge preparing to leap, another man jumps in the water first causing George to jump in after him and save the first man’s life. After exiting the river, they are in a small shack drying off when Clarence, the man who George jumped in to save, strikes up a conversation with him. We learn that Clarance is really George’s guardian angel, so when George confesses that he wishes he’d never been born, Clarence tells him that his wish has been granted.
George has a chance to see what the world would be like without him - it provides some awesome perspective of his influence and impact on others.
George returns to town and discovers that no one recognizes him. His friends have taken different paths in life due to his absence. His little brother, whom he had saved from death in a broken ice accident in his youth, perished without George there to rescue him. He also finds his wife never marries and as a result his children were never born.
I add this all happens in the fictional town of Bedford Falls, NY which reminds me of Highland Falls, NY outside the gates of West Point.
The reason “It’s a Wonderful Life” has endured for so long and continues to resonate each holiday season is that it forces us to think about the many gifts we ALREADY have, not the ones we long for. It creates the conditions for deep gratitude!
I want to highlight a few key remarks from the movie that really hit home:
“Strange isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?” - Clarence the Angel
“Remember George, no man is a failure who has friends” - Clarence the Angel
“You see George, you’ve really had a wonderful life. Don’t you see what a mistake it would be to throw it all away?” - Clarence the Angel
“All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away.”- Pa Bailey
The movie is full of hope and humble Clarence leads the way in sharing that message... and as a result of his efforts he 'earns his wings'. Mary Bailey, George’s compassionate, resilient wife is the true hero of the movie, is always making her own sacrifices for her family and eventually her husband.
For us as leaders, it’s a reminder that coaching, teaching and instructing with selflessness is always the right approach. Leaders who care not only about the success of their organizations but about the achievements of their team members often leave behind an indelible legacy. They go above and beyond to provide guidance to those struggling or in need of personal change.
Leaders who value selflessness often provide their team with more opportunities, set higher expectations for themselves, and are more receptive to feedback from subordinates. They are at peace with themselves and are more interested in giving than receiving, which is ultimately the essence of the Christmas season.
Give more, take less, and no matter the struggles of the present, let’s not be blind to the blessings we do have. no matter how painful it can be at times, It’s a wonderful life.
This holiday season, as many of us spend time with our families, sitting in front of a dead tree eating treats from our socks, it’s also a fitting time to remember the sacrifices of those who gave up so much to serve their country during wartime.
It reminds me of all the Christmases far from what most would consider home…. 1988 and 1989 I was in Chile, 1999 and 2000 I took my family to Venezuela and in 2000 there was a humanitarian aid mission going on following tremendous disasters in Venezuela (Operation Fundamental response) I participated in. 2004, 2005, 2007 were all Christmases my family was at Fort Benning (Moore now) and I was in Iraq with my brothers and sisters of 3ID.
There are many who are deployed today in harms way or just far from home - remember them this holiday season.
During the holiday chaos and the joyful moments shared with loved ones, I wanted to wish you a truly delightful holiday season. May it be filled with laughter, love, and the rejuvenating power that comes from spending quality time with those who mean the world to you.
Seeing is believing, but, sometimes, the most real things in the world are the things we can't see.
— “The Polar Express” (screenwriter Robert Zemeckis)
I don't think Christmas is necessarily about things. It's about being good to one another.
— Carrie Fisher
Mankind is a great, an immense family... This is proved by what we feel in our hearts at Christmas.
— Pope John XXIII
The way you spend Christmas is far more important than how much.
— Henry David Thoreau
Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we're here for something else besides ourselves.
— Eric Sevareid, author
Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.
— Oren Arnold, journalist
My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?
— Bob Hope
Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home!
— Charles Dickens, “The Pickwick Papers”
I've been thinking about what I'd like to give you for Christmas… I suppose the thing I'd like most to be able to give you is hope. Hope that through your own doing and your own living with others, you'll be able to find what best fits for you in this life.
— Fred Rogers
Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone.
― Charles M. Schulz
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year filled with growth and fulfillment!
This Week I Will:
Be more like Santa doing all I can to stay positive and joyful
Spread Christmas cheer - some how - some way - even if I am sick (maybe a call or a text?)
Give more - take less
Reflect on all the wonderful blessings I enjoy - there is a LOT to be thankful for!
Seek to go 1-0 today making each day my masterpiece
Feliz Navidad y prospero año nuevo
Dewey y Stormi!
I reflect each Sunday morning on what I have been learning - I encourage you to reflect daily or weekly as well. I share these notes just to get you thinking about topics related to leadership and character. If you would like to continue the conversation, add someone, or if you would like to be dropped from the distribution list - please just send me an email at Marc.Boberg@gmail.com - Do great things this week!