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When I was younger, I was extremely bitter and burned out by the holiday rituals I grew up with. They either meant mandatory attendance with biological family I was trying to escape, alcohol-fuelled parties, lots of hollow capitalism, or religion I didn't have or want. But after two years of doing nothing significant to mark time in the year-- no Christmas, no Thanksgiving, no birthday even because I'd moved out and didn't know how to celebrate it as an adult-- I realized how much I missed having something.

A gathering. A celebration. An event. A significance.

So yeah, we're inventing new ones. Pick dates and events that matter to you and do something to mark the day, even if it's only to yourself. Have an annual "it's everybody's birthday" party. Make a full moon dinner every month and invite friends. Decorate your house every solstice and equinox (and clean while you're at it, because rituals also serve practical purposes). Light some candles and play music out loud on the first day of every month. Pick up a leaf when you hear the autumn's first goose and do it every day until they're gone, then burn all your leaves. Hang up a piece of art when the first snow falls and take it down when the first flowers bloom in spring.

Don't cherry pick from religions and cultures that aren't yours. Do be open to celebrating things from other cultures if you're invited. If there are aspects of your old holidays that you like-- dressing up or making food or singing songs-- then by all means keep those things, because guess what, that's all just Shit Humans Always Do. None of these rituals have to be religious or spiritual, but they do have to be significant to you. Fill your life with things you look forward to.

then they started fighting Covid precautions.

i remember adults telling me, as a kid, that the ozone was disappearing and the earth was dying and we needed to recycle and save the planet.

now my parents think climate change is a myth.

i remember adults telling me, as a kid, that racism was a plague, that we had to love and accept everyone, that we should never judge before walking a mile in their shoes.

then they told me that protesting for my Black siblings was wrong.

i remember adults telling me, as a kid, that we needed to give to the poor. working at soup kitchens. making quilts. collecting food and money and supplies. building houses. because it was the christian and just plain right thing to do.

now they look at me, on food stamps with their grandchildren, and lament the "welfare state".

i remember adults telling me, as a kid, that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and that any rich man, especially an immoral one, should never run our country.

you can guess who they voted for.

i remember adults telling me, as a kid, so very much.

unrelated, I gave him a shovel a couple of days ago and told him to go have fun in the field because I was tired.

Were this a "golf courses have killed ______ species" or a "you're going to die 10 years sooner because of golf courses" piece, getting 1,000 notes would be a two-day affair.

I genuinely believe that at this time in our existence there is a moral obligation to share news about positive actions, and all the things people are doing to combat extinction at every level. There are so many things. Despair breeds inaction, and that's simply not an option.