海角大神

Like many cities, New York is facing serious challenges, from rising crime to stressed businesses and schools. Its new mayor鈥檚 answer: build a broad coalition that鈥檚 more pragmatic than ideological.

Negotiations on a nuclear deal have done little to mask the sense that the U.S. and Iran are on a collision course. After posturing and threats, diplomacy could benefit from some restoration of trust.聽

Amid a year defined by difficulties, our senior economics writer visited a Chicago neighborhood that has been a proving ground for resilience amid economic ups and downs. What he found may hold larger lessons.

In 1985, a tiny toy company had a big idea to meet a pressing need:聽create a Black action figure.聽The company didn鈥檛 survive, but today Sun-Man is seeing a resurgence, bringing his history with him.

To be empowered to give is the best gift of all, and that generous impulse to share happiness often attracts unexpected allies.

When Monitor photographers returned to the field in 2021, they聽found a society eager to come back together 鈥� and a newfound joy of their own.

Some people have finished their Christmas shopping early, worried that the special gift they鈥檇 been eyeing might be in short supply. Yet others are rediscovering another type of gift that is never held up on an unloaded cargo ship or stuck in a clogged supply chain.聽

It is an act of kindness. Reminders of this deeper spirit of Christmas are not hard to find.

Most of them are quite public. Nova Scotia, for example, has sent a giant Christmas tree to Boston each year in gratitude for that city鈥檚 act of kindness more than a century ago in aiding the province鈥檚 capital, Halifax, after a gigantic explosion.聽

A similar gift of a tree graces London鈥檚 Trafalgar Square each Christmas. It is a thank you from Norway for Britain鈥檚 support in the fight against fascism during World War II. This year鈥檚 White House Christmas display includes a room decorated as 鈥淭he Gift of Service,鈥� publicly honoring the contributions of the military, front-line workers, and first responders.聽

For many people, the pandemic has meant altering their Christmas celebrations. But it has not stopped a search for acts of kindness.聽

The city of Kane, Pennsylvania, for example, organized a Christmas Kindness Challenge, a variation on an advent calendar in which people perform one good deed each day in the run-up to Christmas. One day might include thanking a health worker or military veteran; another donating unused items, or calling an old friend. On one of the days participants were asked to 鈥淏e kind online and offer positive comments on social media.鈥�

鈥淭here鈥檚 something to be said about putting ourselves second and others first,鈥� says Beth Anne Langrell, CEO of For All Seasons Inc., a mental health center that serves Maryland鈥檚 Eastern Shore.聽

鈥淭he way that we are most filled is when we identify something that matters to us because it鈥檚 something in which we can invest and make a difference,鈥� she told the Salisbury (Maryland) Daily Times. The result, she points out, is 鈥渁 human life being helped.鈥�

The giving of physical gifts can be an act of kindness too, of course. If thoughtfully chosen, they reflect the meaning of Christmas, the dawning of a love and truth beyond material treasure that binds individuals, whether as family members, friends, or strangers.聽

The founder of the Monitor, Mary Baker Eddy, saw the message of Christmas as the antidote to human hatred. 鈥淭he basis of Christmas is love loving its enemies, returning good for evil, love that 鈥榮uffereth long, and is kind,鈥欌�娾�� she wrote.聽

The best Christmas gifts are not hard to find. They are also never in short supply.