Reflections on the Way to Work

During the holiday season I was in a colleagues’ office as he received an e-card – he looked at it and exclaimed “I can’t stand when people send e-cards they are so impersonal and I rather they just not send anything then to send an e-card”.  The next day this same colleague was standing by the shredding bin and throws a very nice “Holiday Card”  away and he looked at me and said “these cards are such a waste of money – people spend so much money on nice cards only to have them thrown out”.   I replied,  “I don’t understand, yesterday you complained about e-cards and today you are complaining about regular cards.”   I said it is the thought behind the card that counts!  The next day I walk into his office and he had a card displayed on his bookshelf.  I said “How come you have a card on display? I thought you didn’t save cards. ” He said, I don’t but this is from someone on my team.  I smiled and chuckled to myself.

Did I send or give him a card? No!

The inter-change made me think about the evolution of the holiday card throughout the years and how the tradition of “Holiday Cards” has changed.  Until you stop and think about it, you don’t really realize how the changes in the tradition of sending and receiving “Holiday Cards” has impacted us as individuals and the card industry overall.

It used to be you would go to a store and spend time looking at all the creative designs of the season.  Many included messages that were inspirational.  One such message was “One Solitary Life” (more on that later on).  There would be Christmas Cards, Hanukkah Cards, New Year Cards and General Seasonal Cards.  Then Kwanza Cards were added.

As time went on, the “Holiday Letter” was included in a “Holiday Card” albeit, this was more of a west coast phenomenon. It did try to take off on the east coast but it never really did, the pace of the east coast didn’t really allow the time for composing a letter that covered the year’s activities which included, the good, the bad, and the indifferent things that happened in a person’s life.

Soon, the “Holiday Letter” became the “Holiday Card”, sometimes delivered via regular mail and later, through e-mail.  One can argue the pros and cons of receiving such a letter.  Sometimes it is interesting to catch up on the lives of friends and family you only keep in touch with at the holidays but sometimes the “update” has too much information that the recipients don’t really want or need to know.   Sometimes the letter is from people you don’t really know well but because this has become their “Holiday Card” they send it with an “apology” note written at the bottom.  Others’ notes are well thought out and written with a poignant, philosophical message, my favorite!

Next came the “Holiday Card” with the photo sleeve.  People would take a photo and put it in a Holiday Card that was purchased at Staples or from Hallmark.  This was very quickly replaced by cards produced with the help of the technological innovations of computers, programs, apps, Shutterfly and Walgreens.  The “Holiday Card” now combined the concept of the “Holiday Letter” and the photograph card combined.  Today people are creating their own cards comprised of photos  of a  year’s worth of events and milestones.  They say a picture paints a thousand words, and now without the words of  the “Holiday Letter, you can see how they spent their year through the photos; and because you receive a card you have the holiday sentiment expressed in their printed holiday wishes.

The new technology lets each of us tap into the creative side of ourselves.  It is actually fun to do.   Somehow though it seems easier to throw away a card that was purchased in a box then something someone has made up special and includes pictures of family and friends, well…….at least for some of us!

While this is the positive side of the evolution of the “Holiday Card”, the negative side is that some of the most beautiful, inspirational messages of the season that used to appear on cards are lost and forgotten.  I was reminded of that while attending Christmas Day Mass.  The celebrant read One Solitary Life and as he read it I realized that it had been years since I read or seen this passage.  It was always in the display of boxed cards at the store.   One year I actually used it as a  “Holiday Card”.  It is truly a beautiful and inspirational message.  I realized how easy the true meaning of Christmas is easily lost in the commercialism of the holiday.

As we begin this new year,  I thought the message of One Solitary Life can inspire and remind each one of us, how in our own way, we can have an impact on the world, however small or large, we can impact the lives of the people we touch each day.  Whether it be a small interchange of words to the security guard standing at his post every morning when we walk into our office building or the homeless person on the street that we give a warm smile to on a cold, dark morning.   One Solitary Life reminds us that in each of our own ways our lives matter.

For those not familiar, with One Solitary Life by Dr. James Allan Francis,  I have included the poem below:

He was born in an obscure village as the child of a peasant

He grew up in another village

He worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30

Then, for three years was an itinerant preacher

He never wrote a book

He never held an office

He never had a family or owned a home

He never went to college

He never put his foot inside a big city

He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born

He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness

He had no credentials but himself

He was only 33 when the tide of popular opinion turned against him

His friends ran away

One of them denied him

He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial

He was nailed upon the cross between two thieves

While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his garments, the only property he had on earth

When he was dead, he was laid down in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend

Twenty centuries have come and gone and today he is the central figure of the human race

All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the Kings that ever reigned – put together – have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that

One Solitary Life

My wish for 2016 that each of us recognize that we touch the lives of others every day in our own unique way!  Remember throughout the year that it is the ordinary acts and gestures that are extraordinary!

Best Wishes for a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year