Is this What Jesus Had In Mind?

'Tis the season! Again... Something has gone horribly wrong.



Black Friday

Small Business Saturday 

Cyber Monday

Christmas

And whichever Madison Ave creation I've thankfully forgotten. 

I'm sure there are still a few people around who load up the family pick up with food and go and give it all to the needy with no strings attached. That has little to do with Thanksgiving / Christmas in current day America. Long gone are the days of reflecting on the meaning of Christmas, Thanksgiving or even Easter. In my lifetime they have all been reduced to mindless consumerism. Thanksgiving= stuff ourselves silly with no worry about the obesity epidemic currently sweeping our country drowning us in a sea of entirely preventable disease, suffering and death. Then, the same night we have all given thanks for what we have, like good little mindless consumers we go off and buy more shit = Christmas. Christmas has morphed into a tool of the machine to keep the machine going. The machine being neo-liberalism. Easter= buying plastic easter bunnies, eggs and fake grass oh and don't forget the chocolate! Things we all need right?


I truly believe without Black Friday and all the mindless consumerism that goes along with it, our current economy would collapse. It will anyway. All the billions spent on advertising are only buying us a little more time. We bullshit ourselves, thinking that the circus can go on and on as we wade through miles of isles of gadgets, clothes, furniture, kitchen gear ad nauseum. There is so much! Surely, it can never end! Who gives a second thought to where it comes from and the long suffering people who make it all working in sweatshops hidden far far away in distant lands? Oh, there may be a headline like THIS from time to time but they are only unpeople. 117 dead Americans would be the lead in story for a week at least (A long time in ADD America). Even here, the scapegoats would be found and sent to jail leaving those truly responsible in the clear (provided they are in a high enough tax bracket). But these 117 plus died in a far off land and man there are deals to be had!

Now ask yourself "does it have to be this way?" and if you call yourself a Christian "is this what Jesus had in mind?" If you answered "yes" to either question, go fuck yourself and stop reading. If you agree with me and answered "no" then there is hope! We can get back to basics like simply helping the less fortunate and asking why they need help anyway. We can reclaim the holidays as both family and reflection time. I skipped the Black Friday hoopla as I do every year and holy shit, the sun is still rising in the east each day. We can control the holidays and not the other way around. Try it, you will feel better and in a small way make the world a better place.  

In addition to WWJD, ask What Would Jesus Think?

Opting out of Christmas

I was able to opt out of Christmas and ohhh what a feeling! Due to on going concerns in the family, we had no time for the usual gift giving nonsense. It felt funny but it was also a huge relief. I just got to enjoy a little time off with the wife and seeing a few friends. A Christmas minus the presents reminded me of all I do have and that I need little. Christmas is what we make it. If you want all the high pressure shopping and drama, that's what you will get. I chose to step back and use a little time off work to breathe a little. I would be happy if I thought how ever many Christmases I have left could be this peaceful. There is another way.

We are bombarded with advertising this time of year. If I see another Wal-Mart commercial telling me to save money and live better, I may have myself committed. "Living better" and shopping at Wal-Mart do not belong in the same breath. I see it as a microcosm of everything that is wrong with US today. Outsourced jobs, poorly educated citizens, (or are we just consumers now), selling out to China and loss of of community are just a few things that come to mind. Also, cars with bows are loosening my grip on sanity! If I bought my wife a new car for Christmas, I'd be in the morgue. Surely, there is something better to spend money on than a new status symbol car! People are going with out heat, lights and enough food but you would never know it watching TV. The myth that all is well is all that matters.

I'm tired of Christmas being a leading economic indicator. Do more people shopping really mean we are back on the road to prosperity? We get mixed messages. Go buy stuff! Be charitable. What a disconnect. We are told of food drives, ways to give to the homeless and not so fortunate and children going cold but who asks why they are needed here in this country in the first place. I think I'm a good person and I think you are so why do we have a real need to help homelessness and other effects of poverty? Why do we let this go on? Most importantly, what can we do about it?

Next year, take a pass on the shopping frenzy and consider what and who are really important to you. I promise it will be a Christmas you will always remember!