I can’t shake this persistent feeling of being jaded during this holiday season, admittedly this has been something building up inside of me for quite some time and I have been successful in pushing it to the recesses of my mind but, I’m tired of kicking the proverbial can down the road, because I have had enough.
I am beginning to loathe the Holiday season…
There, I said it! Now that I have this out of the way. Allow me to expand on this simple, yet potentially toxic 8 word statement.
What used to be a magical time that I would look forward to celebrating with members of my extended family, has now turned into a selfish exhortation to “Go forth and shop!”
Every year it seems that the commercials are beamed into our brains earlier than the previous year and even worse, it seems that all of the subtlety is drained from it as the commercials seem to unapologetically scream:
“What are you doing sitting there dummy? Get up, get your car keys and drive to the store and buy! Oh you’re one those anti-shopping lazy types? Don’t worry, use the website address at the bottom of the screen don’t bother getting up!”
If I didn’t know any better, I would liken the commercialization of the holiday season to a scene from your childhood with that menacing bully standing inches from your face daring you to do something about the invasion of your personal space. In that you are powerless to do anything, other acquiesce to the demands.
It seems that retailers are increasingly tone-deaf to the purpose behind the holiday season. As workers now have to contend with treating a holiday as another day in the trenches with wanton insanity as part of the equation. Sadly, shopping violence during the holiday season is no longer an aberration; it is now a twisted holiday ritual.
All of that foolishness about “Peace on Earth and goodwill towards all men” is fodder from a bygone era. Screw that person on the street who is panhandling, scantily clad, dirty and possibly battling a mental illness or another malady…
They are in the situation that they are in, because they chose to be… The Christmas season is about giving, not rewarding laziness! We often step over our fellow human beings in the mad rush for savings advertised in the circular in the newspaper or the stealthy pop-up in our browsers, God forbid that we inadvertently trample them. No worries, we are too civilized for that… Because we save the trampling for inside of the store.
Why should we concern ourselves with their plight? When whatever help or spare change that we could give them can be better utilized towards something truly empowering, like Christmas lights, a Plasma screen TV or better yet, procuring a tablet so that we can further insulate ourselves from anything that could disrupt our delicate existence.
There is no other way to describe it other than for what it is; an ugly, manipulative race for profits above all else by retailers.
Shun P. Writes... dot com 
Move over…let me kick the can a bit, too. I couldn’t agree with you more. Can’t we all just make something and cook for our neighborhood and call it a day? Possibly attend church, I don’t know…seems crazy, I know. There’s more of us out there, we just can’t see them for all the crowds of people in our way. Great post.
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Well Audrey, I fear that would be too much like right!
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I can’t blame you for feeling like that; I think this is why I felt a little bah humbug about it myself. While we can’t control what everyone else does, isn’t it sort of a duty for us to carry on the true meaning of Christmas? Moreover, we could show those in our inner circle (the next generation of people we have sway with, family members…) what it’s really about. I still fully believe in the true meaning of Christmas. Next year, I’m saving money solely for giving. I’ve always wanted to do just that, and I’m going to make sure I can do it. I refuse to let my Christmas spirit go down the toilet because of people that don’t know or have forgotten what Christmas is really about.
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Brilliant point of view. Retailers don’t care about anything but profit. They don’t care about the whole purpose of it all. They don’t care that their workers have to leave their families and come in and run their stores. One of the few (the only one I can think of right now) retailers that lives and breathes family is Chic-Fil-A. They aren’t opened on Sundays, holidays, and have limited hours on days around holidays. The company has received some unfavorable press for it’s strict family value initiative (anti abortion, anti gay, anti out-of-wedlock births), but they have been consistent with the spirit of what Christmas means. I do believe no other retailer has proven to be as consistent with this message.
Most of companies just care about their bottom line: ending the year in the black.
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And the sad thing is this Will… The only thing we can say is “At least they are consistent” but what does this say about our society as a whole?
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Sometimes I surprise myself by getting swept up in the way of the world, especially around this time. Great post, LMAO!
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It happens to the best of us Po’ Girl, LOL! Thanks for taking time out of your day to read it, I appreciate you!
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Thank you for just saying everything I have been feeling for a loooong time now, but haven’t been courageous to blog about. My family several years ago stopped exchanging gifts on Christmas. We give throughout the year when we feel like it, for whatever. October through December just fills me with a feeling of ick instead of joy. Commercialism is killing it.
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