a holiday greeting

Consumerism is killing us.
North Americans are the most horacious consumers on the planet.
The cost of our consumption is great.
Our air and our waters are poluted from industry.
Our beautiful suburban homes are built on land fill from years of wasteful ignorance.
Our lust for material validation keeps us in jobs we hate, and the more we aquire, the emptier it all feels.
But the new SUV in the drive way sure makes you look good to your neighbors.
Nevermind that wars are being fought, and people being killed over the very substance your monster requires in excess in order to perform it's ultimate purpose of shredding nature with its big ol' tires.
So where am I going with this?
Oh, that's right, it's Christmas time once again.
That festive time of year that started as a pagan celebration for the winter solctice, and later became renowned for the birth of "our lord" Jesus Christ (who I hear was actually born in the summer).
In many ways, Christmas has not changed much. It is still a time of intense rapture and worship.
In awe of the material gods, billions of people pay homage by sacraficing rolls of highly valued paper adorned with symbols of their culture.
I wonder how many single mothers go into debt every year to buy toys that their children will tire of in a month, but they absolutely had to have because the television babysitter that keeps them occupied while mom pulls a double shift to pay for it all won't stop screaming about it.
Do you know who makes those toys?
Little elves maybe?
Well, that's pretty close. I mean, they are little.
Children in sweatshops in third world countries will produce the majority of the products Americans will gobble up in the inevitable consumer binge that is December.
But Christmas is about more than that you say.....
It's about family, and charity, and good will towards all.
Well pardom me if I point out a little observation I've made.
It seems to me that the act of designating a time of year to celebrate the values of love and compassion serves as a good excuse for many to ignore these ideas for the rest of the year.
People who are hungry at Thanksgiving are often hungry in January and February, and March...
Where is your concern for these people then?
Can you even say hello when they ask you for your change? Can you?
And what about family?
Well, for all their strengths and weaknesses, I love my family....
but I'm not sure that only seeing them on Christmas is such a healthy pattern.
It has meant that I have only seen my family when I am broke, stressed, and usually sick.
We engage in meaningless ceremony that gets us no closer to who we really are and how we really feel than would watching old cartoons in silence. We usually end up fighting like whinny toddlers in desperate need of a nap over little things that represent larger deeply rooted issues that are inherant in our family dynamic.
This year I am going to spend some time with my best friend in wine country instead. I am going to buy several small canvasas and some oil-pastels and charcoals and make a unique piece of art for those who are dearest to me, and ask that unless you find yourself creating something with me in mind, please no gifts this year.
The path I am on is asking me to lighten my load, and rid myself of attachment to material things.

check out these inpirational web-sites.

-Jill

http://www.adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/bnd_xmas/

http://adbusters.org/home/

http://www.adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/