The magic of holiday time comes alive again in the Christmas town of Natchitoches

Natchitoches, Louisiana Christmas

Carol Forsloff--Do you believe in the wholesome magic that comes with the awe of lights that rival heaven's stars and people at their best?  Then Natchitoches, Louisiana is the place where all that centers, to usher in the holidays for everyone all over the world.

Natchitoches has long been known for its festival at Christmas.  Nothing can compare with the first Saturday in December, when people come from everywhere to join together in the formal opening of the Christmas holidays.  The lights and fireworks of Natchitoches are like nowhere else in this season.  Big cities with major crowds cannot rival this small town's presentation.  People have been known to weep in wonder, to cry with the splendor of the lights, the Christmas carols and the wonderful life that seems to be reflected in everything around.

The evening comes; the fireworks end.  The music is heard echoing off the riverbank as the lights sparkle in the distance, as some folks wearily, but happily, cross from the bridge from the center of town, back into their cars and homes with the memories of holiday best.

Natchitoches is the town of the Steel Magnolias, the location of Uncle Tom's Cabin and the centerpiece of the nation's expansion, as it is the oldest settlement in the Louisiana Purchase that led to the expansion of the United States from a collection of colonies to a nation of states.  It also brings many thousands of people from around the globe to enjoy the magnificent fireworks displays that begin in November and continue through the first week of January every year.

The town has that homey, small-town feel and appearance, as it gets all decked out every year for the holiday season.  This is the time when people of all political persuasions and social dictates gather together to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  People of Natchitoches may have their differences, but in towns like this folks tend to keep those differences manageable, as they live and work together and plan their celebrations in a fashion that keeps the community unified in a single purpose: offering the Christmas magic to one another and to visitors that come from everywhere.

Reflecting on the magic of Christmas in Natchitoches from Hawaii,  the State most distant from it, offers a journalist good memories of a different life experience, of what it is like to live in a small Southern town and enjoy its hospitality.  And for all those who believe in the best in all of us, that type of hospitality is a fitting manner with which to enter the New Year in the coming weeks.

Faith fails in negative social, political and religious discourse

[caption id="attachment_16172" align="alignleft" width="246"] Immaculate Conception, one of the churches in Natchitoches, Louisiana[/caption]

Carol Forsloff — There is a line in a movie called Steel Magnolias when Olivia Dukakis, who plays one of the characters in the play/film about life in a small southern town, says, "If you have something bad to say, please sit by me." It is that statement that underlines an attraction we have to the negative, why bullies attract large groups, why the negative fills the news and why there is so much division in politics throughout not just the United States but the world.

The "Steel Magnolias" film takes place in a town called Natchitoches, Louisiana. It is one of the most picturesque towns in America, its beautiful streets lined throughout with trees and flowers. Churches are predominant in the town, with one on almost every corner. People say hello from their front porches to friends and strangers alike as they sit socializing in the quiet of the evening. It is a place one would equate with paradise, with its lush landscape, music and beauty all around. It is, however, like every other town in the South, with one foot in the 21st century and another dragging behind with a history filled with racial hurts and regional pride. It is not, however, the bell-weather of the negative, only the reflection of the times, when people reach  not to their better selves, nor their faith, but their endogenous hurts, some unjustified as they are, and biases that arrive from a long history of distrust of anything foreign, different, that creates change. For change comes slowly to the small towns, even as the negative grows everywhere.

Scientists tell us that attraction to the negative is part of how we interact with one another and determines what we read and talk about.  Religious leaders and prophets reminded people of that when the laws were written for people, to prevent them from falling into the traps that kept love from its divine place in the world community. Throughout the history of faith, there have been frequent reminders that loving one another is the primary commandment. The negative, however, whether that is stealing, lying, or even murder, are those places people find even more attractive when institutions fail.

It is in politics that the divisions seem most apparent, whether left or right, in almost every discussion. If the negative isn't negative enough, then folks addicted to it often cast blame on those who provide the information about political news, which is the media, one of the institutions among many under fire during times of turmoil. Even those who are to provide a safe harbor with those valuable commandments that help prevent people from falling for the seduction of the negative, fall prey to that same seduction. So preachers become politicians or become spokespeople for political views, taking sides in arbitrary arguments that fit a political bias under the guise of a religious one. So the opponent becomes demonized as a result, even from the pulpit, so the safe harbor of religion often becomes unsafe from the consequences of negative behavior and conversation. It is often these religious disagreements and demonizing based upon social and political negatives, that brings violence.

How do we avoid the traps that bring down our discussions to the baser levels of discussion and behavior? One way, social psychologists tell us, is to focus on issues, to read widely, and to read ideas outside our biases and social-political comfort zones. But that is difficult, given the fact most people read only what they believe. It is, however, essential in a democracy for people to be educated specific to issues, and when they are associated with personal bias, the opportunity for serious debate is lost.

It is that loss that brings the national suffering,  teachers of ethics tell us. And most importantly, they remind us that those who maintain the safety of faith's harbor must ever be vigilant that all people have access to its peaceful shores.

Solomon’s heart of the mother an example for modern politics

[caption id="attachment_13840" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Natchitoches, Louisiana"][/caption]

Carol Forsloff -- Politics can be risky business these days.  Elections often come at a price, and that price is usually the loss of dignity of the participants.  Yet what if leaders really put ethics first, not just their version of these set in some rigid, domineering manner, but instead the type that reflects enlightenment and justice, as found in the wisdom of Solomon.  One town in the South has that chance, as the rest of us do as well.

Natchitoches, Louisiana is that Southern town.  It is the charming, open-hearted, joyous place depicted by the film, Steel Magnolias.  It does, however, have a checkered past, as it is considered the location for Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the chronicle of the treatment of the slaves in  Louisiana’s historical cauldron of that despair.  The town, however, is growing up and is on a path to make the rest of the country envious with its beauty, Southern charm, great food and music—the best of Louisiana—and now its opportunity to renew itself as an example for the rest of America.  It has candidates of both races, some actually a fusion of both in their genetic past,  running for Mayor in 2012.

Political issues have torn families apart, destroyed friendships and frozen the United States in ways that stop progress in many areas.  The need to have one’s way at any cost, and the focus on absolutes, has hurt many people.  That should make us and our leaders step back and look at the qualities of leadership that are both spiritually and rationally based and where sound judgment overrides rigidity and creates enlightenment and love instead.

In the famous story of the two mothers, both seeking custody of a child, Solomon looked at the problem from the perspective of love to see which mother reflected that love and therefore was the child’s real mother.  When he offered to divide the child, giving one half to each woman, that real mother stepped forward and asked the child be given to her rival instead of pursuing an act that would kill the child.   The other mother had agreed to Solomon’s original offer.  Solomon knew the child’s real mother had put her ego needs aside, seeking instead the welfare of the child and so gave the child to her.   This is the type of wisdom that can be used in governance.

Politics in contemporary America demands the child be cut in half, as the leadership of political parties clamor for their ideas, some of which would kill the body of the “child,” or in this case the heart of our country.  A town like Natchitoches is a small replica of US diversity and therefore a place of opportunity to model and make a difference for everyone.

May the candidates in 2012 throughout America turn to the examples of the great King Solomon and choose wisdom before their political and personal needs and find the heart of the mother in making the right decisions.