Sense and Sensibility

The pre-Christmas season is the exception among the seasons.
It creates lists of friends to be gifted,
fills calendars with parties one shouldn’t miss,
and reminds us of those who have no place at the colourful table of Christmas.

Humans begin to reflect.

Oh là là — that word already carries something meaningful and gently festive within it.
Whenever reflection or thoughtfulness starts appearing in daily conversations,
it’s a sure sign:
the Holiday spirit has arrived.

The word sense itself is slippery —
hard to grasp, yet easy to feel.
Its layers reach into every corner of human life.
Whenever an action or a moment in history is supposed to have meaning or purpose,
it falls under that one elusive word: sense.

“Does that make sense?” — what an open-ended question.

Reflection, though, goes much deeper.
It asks us to look within:
at the world, at our lives, at fear and hope,
at the past and the yet-to-come —
at life itself, in all its messy wonder.

But using the word sense doesn’t automatically imply wisdom.
Not every decision that makes “sense” is a good one.
Ethics and humanity live in another neighbourhood.

When a nation chooses war,
it may “make sense” to some —
but for those attacked, it never will.

When the loudest voices win by shouting,
it makes sense only to the shouters.
The rest of us know: that kind of noise is senseless — and far from wise.

When a few have too much and many have too little,
the fortunate ones call it success.
The others see it as cynicism — and inhumanity.

Somewhere along the way, sense picked up a small prefix — re.
To reflect or reconsider sounds gentler, deeper,
because it happens quietly, often alone.
It’s really just a polite call to the brain:
“Hey, time to tidy up your thoughts a bit.”

And yes, that’s hard work.
Because when you start reflecting,
you never quite know what or whom you’ll meet inside yourself.
True reflection takes no prisoners —
it ignores comfort zones and ego shields.
After all, the message is clear:
Reflect!

Often, that quiet inner journey ends with a peaceful sigh —
a breath of clarity after wandering through your own mind.

There’s no guarantee that reflection will produce anything useful.
But the adventure through the jungle of your own neurons
is far too fascinating not to try.

So here’s to thoughtfulness,
to reflection,
to being together and being aware —
especially now, in this bright, noisy, beautiful season.

Let’s be both together and thoughtful.