Peaceful, "Plus" Holiday Season

Dear Friends,

For many of us, this is one of the most sacred times of the year. It is the season of the "Festival of Lights" called Hanukkah for those who follow the Jewish Faith. It is the time when our Muslim brothers and sisters commemorate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, Founder of Islam. Additionally, it is when Buddhists celebrate the "Enlightenment of Buddha". During this holy time, please consider my never ending effort to get all of us to put aside the petty but poisonous political practices in our nation's capital. If we can be kinder and less nasty during this wonderful time of the year, maybe we could be that way all the time.

I learned early in my childhood that when I went to the bakery, I could order a dozen sugar cookies and thank God, I would get 13 cookies. In those days, 13 cookies or other pastries was called a baker's dozen. I could get what I ordered and paid for plus one more. Growing up in a household with inquisitive parents, I realized that getting a "C" in a subject in school was not healthy for me or my sisters, but if I could somehow get a "C" with a plus sign behind it, I might survive. My mother and father were not under any sensible system of measurement of middle-income Americans. We were seriously poor. Nonetheless, my three sisters and I never ever went hungry. We loved peanut butter sandwiches. Now when my mother could buy jelly, man we had a peanut butter sandwich plus jelly. Wow!

During this magnificent and magical holiday season, it would certainly be foresighted, for those of us blessed to serve in the United States, to do our part to make this institution work. The people of my Congressional District actually believe that the U.S. House of Representatives is woefully weak, if not categorically cracked. We can do better for this body plus each other. Arguably, no nation in the history of the planet has been blessed more than us. God has, in fact, blessed us, plus.

Perhaps because we have received so much, we ought to work to pass bipartisan legislation. That may cool down the overheated partisan atmosphere in our land.

Let's work together, plus. May God bless you with a festive, loving, and peaceful, "plus" holiday season.

Warmest regards,

Emanuel Cleaver, II