Walking out of the church after seeing the future life of my guitar made me pensive. I had let go of a record book of musical memories and I wondered how many kids would even get anything this season. It began to bother me that some children in even my family would get Ipads the next day while some kids would get the first decent meal that they may have had for a while. I have heard parents complain that they can only spend $1000 on each child that year because of their tight budgeting. I wonder how many other parents would complain about that “tight budget”.
My disappointment grew when I heard on the radio a couple of days after Christmas that there were thousands of “tweets” from people who didn’t receive the color of an Ipad that they wanted, or that they received an earlier model instead of the latest Ipad 2. There was dismay about a lack of Iphones, Tablets, Kindle Fires, and even a lack of Macbook Pros saturating the world of twitter. It about made me sick in the car to hear these things. I wanted to reach onto the other end of the radio and scream and shout and say “Don’t you get anything?!?!?” but even if I could, I bet many of those people still wouldn’t get it and move on, which makes me even sadder.
The commercial Christmastime that we experience in America has tainted and blinded many from the true realities of the season. The most genius part is these blinders are on all year long, obscuring our view from those in need and directing us to the things we want! Myself included!
I have this picture from the previous post close by for me to see. I will remember every day how I felt this Christmastime so that I may not forget that grave sense of injustice plaguing the season. It looks like my first guitar helped to teach me one last lesson: the wholesome experience of giving in the face of commercialism. Not just a Band-Aid experience, not as a feel good, but as a necessary and wholesome act for developing healthy relationships as an Earth community.
Until Next Friday!
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