Somehow at some point in time someone decided that Christmas was about gifts and incurring a debt hangover to complain about long into the new year! I think it might have been CBA who planted that idea.
Someone decided that we all need to demonstrate our value, our status and how good we are with the tokenism of gifts precisely at Christmas.
Someone thought it was great idea to give more stuff to those that already have an excess of stuff, in fact so much stuff their garages are full, their houses are cluttered, and they are having to pay to store all their stuff.
Someone decided that our planet needed more stuff to manufacture, more stuff, to put in land fill and more stuff to create toxic waste….
Yet with all the “stuff” we give and get somehow at Christmas time suicide rates go up, family violence escalates and if loneliness was measurable then we would have a national epidemic.
No matter how many gifts you buy, how high you let your credit card debt get, no amount of giving seems to fulfil what is perhaps our need for validation by gift giving. And the recipients of our gifts have more “stuff” to add to their already mounting piles of “stuff.
So perhaps we have lost our way and got stuck on the treadmill of gift giving and debt, when really Christmas is about connection, rather than gifts. Perhaps Christmas presents a time for us to reach out to those we have sidelined in our life with or without good reason, perhaps Christmas presents the opportunity to look deeper into our circles and see who needs a little help or support, perhaps Christmas presents the opportunity to be in action and put effort and thought into our gestures of connection by taking the time to make a gift that is meaningful to the recipient and priceless because it cannot be bought.
So with great gusto I think its time to tell the banks and retailers to bugger off with their subliminal messaging about the need for us to go into debt to prove we care at Christmas time.
Rather perhaps its a time to focus on our Karma debt, and for those of you who don’t know about Karma according to Hinduism and Buddhism, its the sum of a personal actions in this and previous states of existence. Viewed as deciding our fate in future time and existence. Meaning we give good we get good and if we have been bad, even more reason to give good.
So from my little family to you and yours, here’s to clocking up helps of good will, clearing our Karmic debt and seeking to spend up big in connecting with others, investing time in those we have forgotten or neglected and if we are really radical, engaging in random acts of kindness to those who need it most.