Are we suckers or what? (A Rant)

Today I am grateful for our son Sam and the meals and conversations we have shared this weekend. I also greatly appreciate the beautiful weather we have been having. 

I am about to go on a rant. You have been forewarned. Though I can still find good in each day, the not-so-good is more in our faces than ever before. Please, stop and notice it. Nobody said any of us had to get on the crazy merry-go-round of materialism, constant comparison, and shallowness. Shallow?  How about hollow?

Okay, you will definitely pick up on some judgment and self-righteousness, but there is also legitimate fear and real discouragement. It started when I walked into the local branch of a large national chain store yesterday and heard "All I want for Christmas is you..." coming through the sound system.  It's a little early isn't it? This isn't about holiday cheer and festivities starting early to pull us out of the funk of COVID, divisive politics, and a climate crisis.

Folks, they don't want us, they want our money. And what we buy only feeds the machine of the Almighty Dollar. They don't want us, they want our pre-conditioned kids and grandkids who will throw a fit unless they get what they want. 

Oh, how effectively they market and advertise. "Everyone wants one." "Only the best for you and your family." "This will make life easier."  They want us, the suckers, who have bought into materialism hook, line, and sinker. We are pathetic! We get convinced that one place has a better deal than the next, that this gift or that gift will be the perfect one and happiness will ring in the new year if we just shop right. We get exhausted and resentful and forget the "reason for the season." 

Experience tells us that the perfect gift will break or be forgotten on a shelf in a few weeks. Or need to be updated with the newer model. In our hearts, we know that the perfect gift cannot be bought. They are more of the free and precious variety. Time together. Maybe some actual eye contact and real conversation. Sharing an experience instead of a screen or item. Spending time in Nature. 

The holiday that gets lost in the shuffle between the highly profitable sales of Halloween and Christmas is maybe the one we need to reclaim. As someone who strives to live gratefully year-round, I worry that the focus on November as gratitude month doesn't do enough to encourage gratefulness each day, regardless of what the calendar says. 

Giving thanks is not just for the month of November and it's not just for wrapped gifts given. It is more for rapt gifts freely given and humbly received. Air to breathe. Water to drink. Laughter. A sunrise. Hugs. Showing appreciation is not to just get all googly-eyed about on the 4th Thursday of this month. (That is if you are from the greatest nation in the world....or can I even say that anymore?) 

Believe me, I don't succeed in living gratefully each day, but I do know that one day a year or one month of focus on it is about as effective as one day or one month a year of exercise would be. Something is better than nothing, but the closer that something is to nothing, the less it lasts. 

I know we all need to make a buck and pay bills, but let's try to keep things like making a meaningful life, making a family, and making a better world ahead of making a buck. I know I used "we" and "they" in my rant, and we are all both in some ways. Which means we can all impact both for the better. 

And this concludes my rant. Rants, by their very nature, tend to be reactive and overstated. Maybe, just maybe though, this one left you a few things to ponder.  Thanks for reading and listening.