Waiting For The Light To Go On

    An acquaintance asked me a rather unusual question today. He asked me why a guy like me celebrated Christmas.

   Obviously, the question was rather unusual due to it being March 9th, well past Christmas (or well before Christmas, depending on how you're looking at it).

   Not to mention that prefacing a question with "Why a guy like you..." is a little assumptive, eh?

   Anywhatzit, ignoring what misgivings I had about the timing of the question I replied straightaway, "Because it's the one time of the year when people generally make an effort to be somewhat altruistic and do something for someone other than themselves, and to be a bit peaceful, even with all the crass commercialism and associated bullsh*t."

   "But", my acquaintance retorted, "you're always going on about how much you don't believe anyone is truly altruistic, so that pretty much derails your reason right there."

   "No, " I said with deliberate slowness. "Not in anyway does my refusal to believe that altruism exists derail my reason. If anything, and especially if you think about it for a minute, it adds weight to my reason."

   And that was the end of that conversation.