The Holidays: A Gentle Complaint
The holidays are truly a wonderful time of year. They’re a
colorful, musical, light-filled break from the winter darkness. For many
people, though, they are also stressful, guilt-inducing and depressing. Amazing
amounts of money, which most of us don’t possess, are spent on holidays. Then,
most of us spend January and February (or longer) paying off holiday debt. We
do this voluntarily.
Beginning at Halloween, we are bombarded with images of
people buying all sorts of expensive gifts (Cars! Computers! Phones!) for their
loved ones for the holidays. Piles of presents equals successful holiday, in
our minds. So, we the obedient public sufficiently stuff our homes with more
gifts than anyone truly needs. What does this teach our kids? What expectations
are we setting?
And how about all those people living in poverty, or close
to it? If you can’t afford your rent, you most likely can’t afford gifts. Talk
about the guilt, worry, stress and disappointment that people must feel when
they can’t afford the gifts their kids’ friends are getting. It probably
doesn’t feel like a high point of your life if you go to a charity for a gift
for your child.
What if we just put the brakes on all the holiday madness? I
have a proposal: let’s make Christmas a Christian holiday. It’s Christ Mass,
after all. Christians can ask for time off work to go to church, have a family
meal, and maybe exchange a small gift. Heck, we can swap shifts with our Jewish
co-workers.
What I’m really suggesting is that we reduce the pressure of
the season. Daily living gives us enough stress without adding to it. Celebrate
people at their birthdays, graduations, and weddings. Celebrate the holiest day
of your faith. Our big national holidays should be the ones that include all
Americans: Thanksgiving, 4th of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and
Veteran’s day. And let them truly be celebrations: food, family, friends, or
simply a great day off work.
Before you freak out, I’m also suggesting that
non-Christians celebrate the season. Christmas is set on December 25th,
but not because it’s the actual birthday of Christ. We don’t really know when
he was born. In ancient times it was set so that Christians could blend in to
pagan solstice celebrations and not draw attention to themselves. Christ was
most likely born in the spring. (The logic being that nature is actually pretty
smart, and sheep don’t have their lambs in the dead of winter). Atheists and
agnostics can celebrate the winter solstice, in any way they choose.
While I’m at it, I’m for axing all stress-inducing holidays.
I would guess that most of us find Mother’s Day more than slightly
guilt-inducing. Do you really want your kids to feel the same guilt that you do
at Mother’s Day? Don’t get me wrong, I love my mother. But how about just
appreciating people all throughout the year, not just on one day? Same with
Father’s Day. They’re Hallmark holidays.[1]
Why do we do this to ourselves?
[1] https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140508-mothers-day-nation-gifts-facts-culture-moms/
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