#74 - All I can do is hope

I have been staring at the screen for the past few days, ok almost a week, feeling at a loss of what to write.  It has been a rollercoaster of a week with emotions hitting highs and lows, drama trying to enter my world, and decisions about my future lingering in my brain seeming to clog up the works.  With a welcome week off from my daily grind, I have been trying to recover some of my sanity and peace by bringing back into my world luscious foods and the beauty of art.  Keeping myself hunkered down away from all the craziness just outside my door.

It seems that with the days and weeks leading up to the holidays, the holidays themselves, and all the insanity that goes with them we seem to lose sight of what is truly important.  It isn't the money we spend or the gifts we buy.  It isn't being the first to have something or the one who gets the most.  Why is it that our society has put such an importance on the frivolous things instead of what should be at the top?  Media and big-box stores create feeding frenzies over the must-have stuff, making the holidays about shopping instead of spending time with friends and family, and even causing riots and fights in the stores by limiting the amount of those must-haves.  I even watched a video from a store of an adult taking a toy out of the hands of a child and then dancing around with it while the child stood there in shock.  What in the hell is wrong with people today that material things would make such animals out of them?

As I watch the news, see the feeds online, and witness with my own eyes the insanity that is infecting people during the season, I am sad about how so many people are infected with this greed and stupidity.  We have gone from political ads all over the TV, news and mail (inbox and snail-mail) to ads and mailers selling us on crap we don't need but they make us feel we have to have.  Every ad selling us more and more 'stuff'.  What will it take to remind people what the holidays should be about, not what media and retail giants have made it?

Now, to be clear, this is not a religious plug.  While I was brought up being spoonfed christianity, it is not part of my world so I am not going to discuss what people see as the religious side of the holidays.  To me, the holidays are for giving gifts from the heart and soul, meals with friends, sharing good will, helping those in need, and giving to those who have less.  This is when we should stop thinking about ourselves and help those less fortunate.  Something as simple as sharing a smile or giving a hug can brighten someone's day and give them a warmth from the inside that no store can sell.  Instead of literally fighting with each other over the last toy or sale item in the store we should be trying to help one another.  How is it that so many people have grown so callused, unable to see what they are doing is hurting others?  They are so self-absorbed they can't see how their actions affect those around them.  Parents sending messages to their children that it is ok to be greedy and take what you want and that having is more important than giving.

It is these things that make me sad about the holidays.  Sad that in our country so many have chosen to be all about money instead of helping our fellow man.  All about judging people who may not have as much as others instead of trying to assist them in becoming more.  Trying to keep up with the Jones' of the world instead of being grateful for and content with what we have.  I don't know if society can be fixed.  I don't have a magic wand big enough or spell strong enough to fix what has been broken inside those who have grown to be so self-centered and self-serving.  All I can do is hope that some day those people will be gone and those who come after will have more heart and soul and see what is truly important.  All I can do is hope...