Ringing Them Bells!

22 December 2025

To honor Mr. Balls, I decorated with Big Bells in my Guest Room.

I use bells in all of my decorating!

This American also uses bells to celebrate freedom.  Ringing them bells has been a concerted effort for me during the past decade, during all my life, but I’m persistent.  I possess secret bells within my heart, ones that I protect from the abusers of life, liberty, love and that self-indulgent pursuit of happiness (which may or may not be considered “love”).

This morning, I confronted the Messages on the me-Phone. I really do need to check them more than once a week.  Typing STOP 40 times is onerous.

I wondered if I could do a Global-Stop, but that happy function would be too easy, too efficient, too populist, too normal.

I therefore persisted in swiping each message, typing STOP, and moving on to the next unnecessary Electronic Junk Mail.  I came upon one, though, that was so emblematic of the entire fix we’re all in, here in America:

AT&T informed me that the battery on my cellular device (me-Phone) is running low.  As the only provider/source for a battery re-charge, They must be contacted by such-and-such a date.

My mental responses were:

— Who put you in charge?

— I don’t believe you’re in charge of anything.  You’re AT&T!

— Who are you to give me a deadline, an ultimatum, a warning????

— How do you know my cell battery needs to be re-charged?

Typing STOP was my reply.

I instantly got an auto-reply from the phishing fraudster:

“You cannot ignore me.  You must re-charge your battery, and AT&T is the only service provider.”

I CANNOT IGNORE YOU???!!!!

The brazenness of this pushy-promotion-scam is the most salient quality, or non-quality, of this internet swindler.  But why should this digital hustler be any different from the creepy crooks of our Idiot Ruling Class?

It is always a mistake for someone to inform me, in that supercilious snide tone, that I cannot ignore him, that I cannot do anything!  There’s many a guy, gal, job, neighbor, retailer, and provider of many services, all of whom I learned to do without — who had stated or, with even more cowardice, haughtily insinuated such a vulgar threat to me.

I left them in the dust, so much dust that I don’t recall seeing the look on the face of the smarmy con artist.

Leaving someone - or something - in the dust, on the trail behind you - is reason enough to ring them bells, anytime of the year.

Leaving cherished memories behind you is another matter.  Those treasured vestiges of the past must be preserved, not embalmed, but vigilantly protected and wrapped, delicately, with loving care, in your memory, awaiting the time when it’s safe to emerge, and to live again — to live anew, even better than before.

The wailing, moaning, and griping that go on this time of year is enough to make anyone, but especially a sensitive soul, sick at heart.  And heart-sick is where I believe many illnesses originate.

Do yourself a favor, and focus on the future, which is to say, revere the past.  Not as a paradise lost, or the Perfectville that never came true, and so wretchedly let you down.  The self-absorbed will therefore claim the right to pout, tear down the present moment, and balk at ever taking another try at trying again.  Fear of failure takes on many forms, but the spoiled-brat approach is the most trying for anyone to encounter!

Be a realist, and realize that sometimes, things are lost, but more often, things are found.  That acceptance of the way of life, and the way of the Lord, is the surest way to go from disappointment to delight.

The world of America has changed drastically since the song Silver Bells was composed in 1950 by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.  These lyrics could hardly be sung today with any authenticity:

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks,

Dressed in holiday style

In the air

There’s a feeling of Christmas.

Children laughing

People passing

Meeting smile after smile

and on every street corner

You’ll hear . . .

Silver bells, silver bells

It’s Christmas time in the city . . .

I’m scarcely a City Girl, but I nonetheless believe that the glorious moments will arise in my nation when:

Strings of streetlights, even stop lights

Blink a bright red and green

As the shoppers rush home with their treasures.

For me, treasures are those bells of freedom, the bells of faith, the bells that celebrate the birth of Christ.  Those bells are huge, indeed, for they proclaim the liberties granted to us, we humble mortals, by our Almighty Maker.