The Pros and Cons of Holiday Giving



We are all adults here, so let’s keep our momentum going without the silly digressions of shock and disillusionment. We have another holiday season upon us, along with a transit strike, a dirty war where our troops serve as ducks in a carnival shooting gallery, and the usual stress of travel and getting everything ready for the big day. We go through this every year. Why? Tradition. It is and always has been expected of us.

I am going to tear at the fabric a bit here, but maybe before I’m finished I can patch some of it together with a little tape and a thread of discernment.

As I have stated previously:

“We hang bright lights because we will someday be lost, brought back to the slime from whence we emerged and left to rotting flesh and doubtful consciousness. We hang bright lights and we sing.”

How’s that for holiday cheer? Okay, a bit of a downer, but I stick by it. We are going through the darkest, coldest time of the year and we, as a species, have always buoyed our spirits with anxious celebration and mandatory optimism. We, after all, invented Santa Claus. We could shoulder the responsibility of awareness as long as our children were spared the rigors of reality. Good for us.

The Winter Solstice has always spurred us to rally our sinking expectations that, yes Virginia, there will be another Spring right around the corner. We may be facing the gloomy air and scant sunlight of late December, but ‘Pitchers and Catchers’ are just weeks away. Hope … ah, there it is. We can dare to hope.

Of course, Christians and their dogmatic forces have co-opted the season and the celebration for their own purpose, and even try to convince us that the Christ was born on December 25th. That is the genius of propaganda; keep the tradition and change the meaning. People are creatures of habit. Alter their ideology by sustaining their customs. After a generation or two, who’s to know. Isn’t that how they converted the pagans? The practice of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of their deities was seamlessly worked into the Christian observance.

Yes, the religious faction will have you believe that the holidays represent a miracle, and they may be right. The corporate community has no problem with that, since they are devoted to the profit margin and the miracle of record sales. So why do we celebrate like good little lambs and obedient consumers? Ah, here is where I begin to sew things back together.

The miracle is us. We persevere and we rally and we endeavor to keep the balloon of hope in the air. We do it for our children. And we show our appreciation to our fellow beings for standing by us during the entire year, whether they are family, friend, neighbor, or co-worker. The fact that we invent stories and songs that elevate our collective temperament testifies to our ability to creatively express our love for life and one another. Even if the balloon should hit the ground and burst, we would find a way to launch another. It is a very human instinct and rather miraculous!

P.S. My son is channel surfing the TV and I caught a glimpse of the Jerry Springer show. I am so tempted to take it all back.