Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Christmas

-
Recently I was very emphatically informed that only real dummies think that the carpenter from Nazareth was born on December 25. And I think that the person who told me this is indeed a Christian. Apparently the celebration of Christmas is nothing more than a modern day continuation of the pagan mid-winter rituals.
-
I like the old part of Christmas where one was encouraged to help people who were less fortunate than yourself. Humility, the meek shall inherit the earth, and all that stuff.
-
I lived abroad for many years, so this is the first American Christmas I have had the pleasure of celebrating in a really long time. It feels like time travel. Or maybe a Stranger in a Strange Land.
-
One thing that stands out above all else about the modern Christmas is the out of control GREED.
-
Christmas is now almost entirely about acquiring things. And not through diligence and hard work, but for free. By a con job. Getting people to give you gifts. Most of which they bought using their credit cards. Which they are in serious danger of not being able to pay. And in some ways it is no longer just giving a gift to someone you love, rather a form of extortion: Either you buy me an expensive present or (1) You don't love me, or (2) Perhaps you are such a loser you can't actually afford to buy me the expensive present I want.
-
What I see is insatiable self-indulgence, gluttony, and hedonism.
-
It is better to give than receive. Say What? Are you crazy?
-
This is not the America that I grew up in, or the country of the American Dream. This is some sort of really disgusting and sick parody of it.
-
-