The Christmas season is supposed to be a time of joy, excitement and anticipation, but instead, it is a time of fear, resentment, greed, envy and bitterness; well, from what I have seen anyways.
Every time I venture outside of my home, I encounter anger, hostility and anxiety that truly perplexes me. I have never had anyone actually angry at me, but when I look around at the faces, there is no happiness, just pure misery.
I thought Christmas was about happiness and well being? To be honest, I don’t remember a time when I have actually seen a smile plastered on someone’s face as they zoom around the mall in a consumerized daze. Though, it is clear what is going on. People are forced to travel and spend money that they do not necessarily have on presents for people that they do not necessarily admire. It’s a sad state of affairs in my opinion. Giving should be about caring and understanding; it should not be out of spite or necessity.
It is clear that people don’t want to be there, but yet they cannot pull themselves away from the annual ritual that is gift purchasing. Dollar after dollar of hard earned spending cash is gone before one can say ‘cash or cheque’.It is tragic to be honest. People are so enamoured by consumerism that they tend to forget about the beauty and majestic quality of what Christmas is truly about. We are not merely consumers, but rather we are beings obsessed with purchasing to a point that we lose total control, and desperately anticipate the day when the holidays will be over.
In December, the malls are never vacant, but yet when January rolls around, there is barely a car in sight in the mall parking lot. Why is that? It’s because people have spent money on items that they cannot afford. Now, they must sit back and ponder how they are going to pay off their rent or mortgage. They are so far in a hole that they fear that it may take months before they can get out of it. Typically, society usually manages to crawl their way out of debt by September, but by then it doesn’t matter; it is now time to think about the upcoming Christmas season and what they need to purchase.
Especially now that there is a credit crunch around the world, people have become even tighter with their wallets then normal (and the pain on their faces is more distinguishable). So, how do we solve this problem?
How would I know? I’m just the writer.
