Thanksgiving has come and gone again. The shopping craze has stalked us again. Buy, buy, damn it buy something. The economy is counting on you. Just like the old Lewis Black joke, people went out and bought stuff they didn’t really need or want and retailers and still claiming that they didn’t sell enough.
My question is: How much is enough? If your store was completely emptied out, would that be enough? A friend of mine showed me the old Dr. Seuss Grinch cartoon this weekend and the lesson felt very poignant these days. The Whos didn’t need presents to be happy on Christmas, but we apparently do. We need iPhones and Netbooks and designer clothes and TVs.
Oh, and one other thing: A car is not a present, it is a huge financial burden both on the purchaser and on the owner. I am frankly sick and tired of these commercials where one person wakes up to see a car with a big red bow on it in their driveway and their spouse walks up with the keys and an impish smile on their face. You know what that smile is for? They just fucked you over. You know how much the premium on a new Lexus is? Yeah, that right, rent money every month.
So here’s my 2 cents. If you have something that you want to give someone or you have a family member or friend who really needs something, then give it to them. Otherwise, how about you give them a nice bottle of wine or a nice pie, something that can be shared on the day of Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) and avoid the unnecessary expenses.
We should not need a certain time of year to come around to be nice to each other. We should do it all of the time or not do it all of the time. This fake nicety that takes over out lives for a month every year is really disturbing and says something about the hollow nature of our society.
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