Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Christmas brings out the best and worst of our way of life.
Crass consumerism runs rampant this time of year, as if owning things equates to happiness. If that’s the case, why are there so many miserable rich people?
Sure, it’s the season of giving, but it’s also a season for getting. People buy things for their loved ones, and then a little extra for that special something for themselves. You know you do. I do too.
Christmas used to be a religious holiday, but if that’s still the case for you, it’s because you’re going out of your way to give it that kind of meaning. For most people, it’s little more than an economic incentive to give and get more stuff.
It’s good for the economy, so that makes it OK. Our livelihoods depend on all the buying and selling that comes with Christmastime. And since money makes our world go ’round, we’d better keep it up or the unemployment lines will grow.
It’s crazy, this fabricated holiday. We spend, spend, spend, and hope nobody forgot to spend, spend, spend on us too. Then we call it a Christmas Miracle as if it means something special.
It’s just an invention of capitalism, and it pays off in money, not miracles. Christmas, bah humbug!
But then, at some point, if you’re lucky, it hits you. Maybe it’s in a holiday movie or show, one that brings a tear to your eye as you ponder how it really is a wonderful life, or how the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes when he saw beyond the presents and pageantry. Or maybe it’s when Scrooge realizes that he must share his wealth with those around him if he’s going to be any kind of decent man at all.
Or, perhaps it’s the original Christmas story, the one about a mother who had to give birth to her first child in a barn because they had nowhere else to go. It’s amazing that anybody would even notice such poor souls at all. But three wise men did. Somehow, they knew this poor child was going to grow up and change the world — not as a conqueror, but with the only weapon he wielded, a brand new message about living, loving and giving. He taught us that it’s better to give than to receive, that where you’ve been isn’t as important as where you’re going. He talked about a love so great that it isn’t limited to the realities of this world.
It’s stories like this that remind me that the spirit of Christmas is deeper than the superficial hoopla that surrounds this time of year.
As for me, I don’t have piles of money but I do have family and friends who love me and give my life meaning. And while I have lost loved ones to the “great beyond,” I’m rich with memories of the ways they touched my life.
Through all my Christmases, there have been times when I couldn’t afford to give my family and friends lavish gifts. It shouldn’t bother me, but it does. The holiday hoopla gets to us all.
But the movies and the songs and the celebrations, along with the original Christmas story, also get to me. They remind me of the better things in life — love, imagination, living and giving — and that I’m better off counting my blessings instead of my money.
Tom McDonald is editor of the New Mexico Community News Exchange. Contact him at: