The
Devolving of Christmas: An American Tragedy
by
Pastor Paul J. Bern
It's
that time of year again, the closing days of the holiday shopping
season when people by the millions will finish spending an average of
$750.00 each between now and December 31st on a bunch of cheap
imported Chinese crap that nobody really needs. The worst part for
American consumers is that all these inexpensive imported products
from the sweat shops of the 3rd
world are designed and manufactured in such a way as to make sure the
items wear out sooner rather than later in the hopes that the
American consumer will go out and buy a replacement, hopefully sooner
rather than later. The giant US multinational corporations have
figured out that if you make a product just good enough to hold out
for a little while, you can still get people to buy it even though it
is made as cheaply as possible. Unfortunately for these same
monstrosity corporations, the American consumer has begun to wake up
and realize they have been had and that things have been this way for
a long time, and they're getting a little madder about it each day.
Their fury and rage first manifested itself in the Arab Spring of
2011, followed by rioting in Spain and England that summer, followed
by civil unrest in Greece that has yet to completely simmer down. The
civil war in Syria similarly rages on as I write this. This has been
followed here in the US and Europe in the form of the Occupy Wall
Street and “we are the 99%”, protest movements of which I am
proud to be a part, and both of which are still very much ongoing,
and most recently the Black Lives Matter movement.
All
I'm saying is that people everywhere have become more questioning,
more critical or have even become opposed to capitalism as we know it
due to what is increasingly being viewed as its predatory nature and
its emphasis of profits over people. Many of us, including myself,
are completely up in arms over the state of our country. The
Christmas shopping season is just one symptom of capitalism gone
overboard, with a mad dash to acquire more and more material things
just for their own sake at a time when we are supposed to be quietly
celebrating the birthday of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is
indicative of a society that has lost its sense of direction and lost
touch with its purpose for being. I was one of millions of people who
boycotted Black Friday last month as a way to peacefully protest
being forced to live in a world where the main thing that matters
most seems to be how much money one can make.
I've
been there and done all that. I owned a small computer store all
through the 1990's and made some real good money. I never got rich,
but I'm okay with that. I know what it's like to have all that, and
do you know what I found out about wealth and riches? It's just a big
trap, a never-ending treadmill of the pursuit of profits until it
consumes your whole life, until in the end you realize that it was
all just an illusion. Like a game of Monopoly, when the profit
machine comes to an end (and sooner or later they all do) and the
game is over, everything goes back in the box only to start all over
again. That's all capitalism and the taking of profits is – one big
Monopoly game where the person with the most money wins, and always
at the expense of everybody else. Is it any wonder that capitalism
and the taking of profits has ruined the spirit of Christmas, let
alone the whole country? Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong
at all with turning a nice profit, but not if it means ripping off
your customers and cheating your employees!
What
have we become? Like cattle and sheep headed to slaughter, we roll
out at this time of the year at the bidding of shop-till-you-drop
gimmicks. Meanwhile, we fight and claw for the blue light special at
the various suburban box stores offering low wages and no benefits to
staff. So, how much can we save? Wally World is offering 25% off,
while Sneers is offering 30%. Let's run to Sneers! It's only 30 more
miles down the road and we've got the gas! What about the Chinese
people slaving in non union factories at pennies a day? What do they
make off the deal? Who is actually winning? Is it really the
mesmerized consumers teary and googly-eyed while giggling gleefully
at 30, 40, and 50% off deals? Our politicians say it's the American
workers. Yes, it is our right to slave part time at minimum wages and
no health benefits while we shop till we drop looking for that
fantastic deal. We make this statement as employees of corporations
are lining the pockets of senators, congressmen and supreme-court
justices in Washington D.C. while seated on presidential cabinets
making decisions regarding our planet's future, our future, and our
children's future. Meanwhile our consumerism is devouring the planet
into what might soon become more lifeless than the moon or, God
forbid, a Wall Street tycoon. Yet, mesmerized by commercials with
intelligence levels less than a jackass after having a lobotomy, we
roll blindly into the gates of the shopping centers, the strip malls
and humongous big box stores. For example, consider the following
December 2013 release from the Associated Press.
"A
shopper in Los Angeles pepper-sprayed her competition for an X-box
and scuffles broke out elsewhere around the United States as
bargain-hunters crowded malls and big-box stores in an
earlier-than-usual start to the madness known as Black Friday. Toys R
Us opened for the second straight year on Thanksgiving itself. And
some shoppers arrived with sharp elbows. On Thanksgiving night, a
Walmart in Los Angeles brought out a crate of discounted X-boxes, and
as a crowd waited for the video game players to be unwrapped, a woman
fired pepper spray at the other shoppers "in order to get an
advantage," police said. Ten people suffered cuts and bruises in
the chaos, and 10 others had minor injuries from the spray,
authorities said. The woman got away in the confusion, and it was not
immediately clear whether she got an X-box. On Friday morning, police
said, two women were injured and a man was charged after a fight
broke out at an upstate New York Walmart. And a man was arrested in a
scuffle at a jewelry counter at a Walmart in Kissimmee, Fla. In the
U.S., Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, has taken steps in
recent years to control its Black Friday crowds following the 2008
death of one of its workers in a stampede of shoppers. This year, it
staggered its door-buster deals instead of offering them all at
once." (Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press)
Lennon
and McCartney of the Beatles wrote in the song "Revolution",
"you
say you want a revolution, well you know, we'd all love to change
your head."
Yes, it is more than changing Wall Street. It is, ultimately, about
changing ourselves. This Christmas, change how you celebrate. Speak
from your heart to your kids about consumerism and how it is
affecting the planet as well as our behavior. Ladies, instead of
buying your guy a new bag of golf clubs, give him a night he will
never forget. Be creative, be loving, be tender and compassionate.
Enjoy each other. To enjoy is to enjoin, to enjoin is to unite.
Consumerism keeps us isolated by gimmicks of sensationalist
advertising of unrealistically beautiful women, “perfect”
children and gorgeous hunks of men that are created off the corporate
mold. And who is being molded by all these advertising gimmicks? You
are! For what purpose? To make others rich. Don't go there this year.
Find richness in your heart and share that this Christmas. And keep
more of your money.
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