Are you waiting? Waiting for that large flat screen TV you hope to get for Christmas? Waiting for the family to congregate and review old times and older jokes? Are you waiting to win the lottery? Well, I am waiting, too. Waiting as in Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s amazing poem in Pictures from the Gone World.

I am waiting for world peace, an end to pain, hunger and homelessness, the banishment of all assault weapons. I am waiting for ISIS to sit down with us and play a game of chess for rights to control the Middle East. I am waiting for someone to give Donald Trump a scholarship to charm school. I am waiting for a cure for cancer and relief for sufferers of all strange diseases. I am waiting for children to have good manners again. I am waiting for everyone to look up from their cell phones and truly notice the people who are passing through their lives.

Ah, but then, there are those who didn’t wait, who don’t wait to change the world, many of them right here among us. The waiting game is a losing game, attention must be paid, think of who didn’t wait: Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and, from our own backyard, Leslie J. Stark and William Waterway. Think of our friends and neighbors who don’t wait now but go ahead and do: Betty Burton, Peter Lambos, Lori Fisher Robinson, Polly Brown, Alden Besse, Trish Bergeron.

These are the doers, not the waiters. I implore you to join us all in the coming new year to make a change. As Ferlinghetti says, I am waiting for a renaissance of wonder.

The first Teddy Bear Trot takes place this Sunday from 8:30 to 11 a.m. at the Harbor View Hotel at 8:30 a.m. Tickets and information are available at mvteddybearsuite.com. Everyone is excited about wearing their most festive clothes and carrying their favorite teddy bear in the 5K fun run and walk. The party will be grand and all proceeds go to the Boys and Girls Club after school programs, so dear to my friend Peter Lambos’s heart. After the run, the Lighthouse Grill presents the Teddy Bear Trot lunch. Any kid under age 12 holding a teddy bear and accompanied by a paying grown up guest is admitted free. Reservations are recommended at 508-627-3761. What a dilemma. I have too many “favorite” teddy bears.

The Community Baptist Church in Aquinnah scheduled its Christmas Eve services for 5 p.m. on Dec. 24th, led by Reverend Ellen. P. Tatreau. Ellen will then head out to the First Baptist Church in Vineyard Haven to help you celebrate at 7 p.m. Martha Child will be the organist. I just love the way Martha plays and sings.

Friday sends happy anniversary wishes to Dick and Lorraine Clark of Vineyard Haven.

The birthday bandwagon pulls along Jamie Warrington and Injy Farat Lew Friday. Saturday is claimed by Ron Jackson. Dec. 20 is a party for Susan Woods, Carissa Noel Doup and Christian Ciancio. Dec. 21 shines on Cathy Weiss. Dec. 22 honors Stephen Dunham, Sr., John Giles, Sally Benson and Monica Radoszewski. And on Dec. 24 Stephen Perry, Leo Kelley and Emily Chappell take the cake. Many happy returns.

On next Friday morning, in your homes, in your hearts and under your trees may you all find peace.