FROM THE EDITOR
By Rayanne Damiano
POWER OF THE PURSE
Use your cash to build a true spirit of Christmas this year
Barely a nibble had been taken of Thanksgiving leftovers when the announcement was made on the news . . . this year’s Black Friday shopping figures were in, and the news was good.
Apparently all of those ploys to drag people out of their early morning slumber to go and stand in lines for fantastically priced sale items that were typically sold out by the time they got to them were successful. Retail spending was up by a reported 11 percent.
Good news for the retailers. Maybe (and it’s a real stretch of a maybe) good news for the many retail workers who are usually not very well paid. But was it good news for all of us?
I was hard-pressed to see how this hike in commercial spending over recent years would do anything but exacerbate our already over-bloated experience of Christmas.
Did it mean that any of us would have a better understanding of the true meaning of Christmas; a keener sense of the love, peace and salvation that Christ’s birth brought to the world?
In truth, we are all so burdened with this hyped up idea that Christmas is a time to get and give more stuff, that the true spirit is often lost in the process. We have become seduced by the Madison Avenue message that we need to have the latest gadget; the smaller cell phone (complete with internet capability and a camera); the most up to date computer system (because all of the software they’re selling us requires additional memory), and the coolest video games.
Our world has become so saturated with new things, it’s all we can do just to keep up. Few of us are taking the time to ask ourselves if we really need these possessions, or should have them to begin with.
And the people who supply all of this stuff are so lustful of that cash we’re willing to spend that they will do just about anything to get our attention. Video games become more extreme, as shown by the likes of the best-selling “Grand Theft Auto” series whereby players’ scores are based on the number of prostitutes and ne’er do wells they can shoot or run over, stealing their possessions as they go. Films are released by the dozens in theaters; few of them are very good and most will be out on video or DVD within the year.
We’ve got our kids making their Christmas lists in September. The quest placed before gift buyers is not to buy something they think the giftee would like or could use, but to buy this precise, particular thing, because we need to get that list covered. So intent are we in providing all of these gifts, that many families have opted to cut out giving to adult siblings. The niceties, the thoughtful tokens, the occasional gags — the kind of exchanging that emphasizes the relationship more than a gift’s retail value — have been supplanted by the spending melee for the bigger gifts our children receive.
The idea of waiting for something of quality is becoming a thing of the past. If we want it and it’s expensive, we can charge it. Besides, quality is a fleeting concept . . . its standards change by the day. And we are caught up in this whole dynamic, as we watch children tear into one present after another and forget for a moment that they will not value them or even play with many of them beyond a week after Christmas because they’re already on to the next thing.
As a mid-90s diet and fitness guru used to say, it’s time to “Stop the Insanity.” And we are the only ones who can do it, using the only power we have over this greedy, consumeristic culture — our cold hard cash.
We need to pull our money out of this frenzied, amoral mess and dedicate our dollars, instead, to things that will help build better character in our young people; provide support and sustenance for the poor and marginalized, and create a more fair and balanced economy that embraces all races, ethnicities, religions and gender.
The pages of this week’s issue contain many ideas on how to do just that. In the weeks to come, more worthwhile programs will be profiled. Together they offer solid alternatives to contributing to a society that moves further away each passing year from what Christmas is meant to be.
Are you up to making this Christmas pledge? — Refuse to spend a single dollar on any toy or gift that serves the culture of sex, violence and just plain meanness. At the same time, I will see that my friends and family understand that these kinds of toys are not to be given to me or anyone in my household. — Will set reasonable limits on how much I will spend on my children and other children on my list, keeping in mind that overindulgence will only hurt their moral development. — Exempt myself from any gift-giving moratorium among the people who are important in my life, and find small tokens, instead, to celebrate Christ’s birth with them. — Search for ways to improve this world with my giftgiving dollars, by purchasing hand-made crafts from Third World countries, fair trade coffee, and other foods and items that will benefit local and global charities. |
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law