I would like to apologise to my readers for not posting for a while. School, the holidays, and life in general have occupied all of my time lately and I haven't had the time. Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it. While I have been SO busy; however, a few things that have been happening this Christmas season has motivated me to sign on and rant.
I am officially appalled at the so called holiday traditions of this country. Where has the true meaning of Christmas gone? Where has family, good will, and charity gone? I realize I am being one sided in this post, but quite frankly, I can because it's my blog. I am a Christian and I have no problem telling people that; therefore, I believe Christmas is a celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now I don't care if you believe that or not. I will not condemn you or criticize you for you belief. It is not my place to do that; however, I would respectfully ask you to do the same. I have been an American my whole life and I have learned of our history and I know we were founded on those exact principles, so needless to say I see them as our (America's) traditions. Lately; however, I see a trend that makes me sick and it causes me to say Merry Christmas?
Our traditions now are totally based on how much money we can spend on people we love and also people we don't even know. Watch some of the commercials on television right now. Best Buy has decided that consumers should now be in a contest with Santa Clause as to who can provide the best gift. Try to get away with giving a standard tip to a waiter or you hair dresser with out getting a dirty look. Oh, and you had better leave a little some thing for the postal worker. What kind of crap is this? There was a day that Santa represented the spirit of good will and giving that we should all be experiencing not only this time of year, but all year long. Not any more. Now we use Santa as a threat to our children. "You had better behave or Santa wont be leaving you any gifts on Christmas." How many of us have said this? I know I am guilty. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and now Green Monday are the barometer of our countries economic stability and are all you hear about on the news starting a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving and lasting well into the new year. How about some stories of people that are doing things to make this world a better place to live? That are easing the burden on those less fortunate than themselves?
How about gathering together with your family, not to exchange gifts, but to enjoy their company and catching up after a busy year? These are the traditions I use to love. I don't understand why every year Americans complain about someone else trying to stifle yet another tradition when we don't even know what those traditions are. What are we teaching our children? Are we telling them of Jesus and how he came here to save us from damnation? If you are not a Christian, are you teaching your children to love one another and understand that we all have to live on this same little planet and should strive to make it better? When did we forget what this season is suppose to mean? I find myself respecting other countries and their traditions more and more because it seems they stick to the traditions that have been passed down to them for generations. Even though I still believe the United States of America is the greatest country in the world, I find myself being ashamed of it's people from time to time. Maybe we seriously have forgotten a simpler time before everything revolved around the all mighty dollar. Please do not misunderstand me. I love buying gifts for my family and friends and wish I had the money to do more of it. Giving makes me feel good. I just do not understand when and how we have drifted so far away from the TRUE meaning of this season. When you read this, please don't take it out of context. Just think about how you can help change the way we think in this country. How you can help make your part of this world a better place. How, if we all do our part, we can set a new tradition of charity and good will and just maybe we can go back to saying "Merry Christmas" without the fear of offending any body. No matter your religious affiliation, no matter what god you serve, I wish each and every one of you a Very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year and may God bless you and your family not just this season, each and every day.
