The winter solstice is near and it is the time of making wishes. As an unrepentant atheist, I send people generic "happy holidays" wishes, but as any generic or abstract phrase - it is pretty meaningless. What does "happy holidays" really entail? What exactly would need to happen during the holiday/winter solstice time to make a person happy? What is it that would make a person like me happy during a holiday season in a similar way that finding a new fantastic toy under the dying, electrocuted x-mas tree makes a 10 year old child happy ?
Bringing a 10-year old into the picture is a useful mental exercise not only because it conveys spontaneous, unadulterated, and unqualified joy, but also focuses the mind on tangible objects. A 10-year old will not be satisfied with vague abstractions, he or she is hoping for tangible objects that can be touched and manipulated. An abstract promise of "peace love and happiness on earth" simply will not do. It may entail something specific to an adult, like cessation of bombing people back to the stone age in the name of democracy, sexual gratification, or winning state lottery, but they are pretty meaningless to a 10-year old. Worse yet, they look like a cheap way of weaseling out of giving a good old tangible present: a model train, a doll, a bicycle or a pair of skates. .
So suppose that a forest fairy who is in the business of fulfilling people's wishes appears before you and says "Make your winter solstice wish, and it will be fulfilled." Most people's homes are full of gadgets: i-pads, i-podS, i-phones, big screen tee-vees, big ass lawnmowers, vehicles of all sizes and shapes, garments, fancy-schmancy kitchen appliances - in a word, anything but shit and a haystack - so I do not think another gadget will do. Getting together with friends and celebrating goes in the right direction, but we do not need holidays or forest fairies to do this. In fact, many people practice this on a regular basis all year round.
So after pondering it for a while I thought "how about socialism?" People like me consider socialism to be a good thing - so wishing socialism during holidays seems natural. Alas, there is only one problem - socialism sounds like one of those dreary abstract ideas that cheap adults use as a way out of buying a good old fashioned tangible present.
However, socialism does not have to be an abstraction - it has been turned into one by people who like abstractions: academics, lit-critters, the commentariat, and assorted peddlers of intellectual commodities. Socialism also means living a good life in a good environment, which means good old tangible things like, say, a good job, a nice place to live, accessible health care, decent education, efficient means of transportation, opportunities to spend your time with your family and friends, pursuing activities you enjoy, like fishing in the morning and writing poetry in the evening, or if you don't like fishing and are not poetically inclined, tending your garden or building a model railroad in the morning and playing Scrabble or doing crosswords in the evening. In a word, things that you can see, touch and manipulate in a way a 10-year old can see, touch and manipulate his or her x-mas present.
So what kind of socialism do you wish as your winter solstice present? Be specific - avoid abstractions and sweeping generalizations of the smash-the-state-abolish-the-wage-system variety. Focus on your social proximity, the place where you live and work. What specific, tangible things you would like to see happen in your social proximity, if you were to enjoy or winter solstice gift of socialism in the same way as a 10-year old enjoys his or her good old fashioned tangible x-mas present.
In a word - think of socialism in your social proximity, not socialism in books or far away places. And think of specific, tangible and positive things, like a health clinic, school, or public transportation system rather than the absence of this or that. And please share your wish list with others. I am really curious how people visualize socialism.
