Stop the Madness!!!!!

As we head into this holiday season I’m becoming more and more disturbed by how ridiculously consumer driven and selfish this country has become.  I can remember when stores not only closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but also overnight and on Sundays!  Remember those days?  When you and your loved ones could count on spending time together at least one day a week … 

Slowly, our selfishness has led to stores being open on Sundays… then 24 hours per day… now 365 days per year.  We are a culture of consumers who insist on instant gratification and have taken a once beautiful and spiritual holiday season and turned it into an excuse to line the pockets of greedy retailers. And we all feed the frenzy by running to Wal-mart on Thanksgiving morning because we forgot to buy butter, or catching a movie when the tryptophan starts to kick in on Thanksgiving afternoon, or (worse yet) allowing black Friday to start a day early by showing up on Thursday evening to get in line so that you can save $20 on a flat screen TV at midnight...  They are now projecting that within 5 years Thanksgiving Day will be as big a retail day as black Friday is now.  The thought makes me beyond angry. 

I see people working at places like Wal-mart, restaurants, and theatres who are of all ages and walks of life, being paid pathetic wages with horrible (if any) benefits and yet expected to work ridiculous hours all in the name of retail and entertainment.  We watch our movies on big screens, sit down at restaurants to be waited on hand and foot (and then don’t tip, which is shameful, by the way, because servers depend on tips as part of their minimum wage!!!), and go to department stores all on traditional holidays like Thanksgiving and spend money we shouldn’t on things we don’t need (when we can’t even pay the minimum payment on our credit cards), all the while encouraging the corporate retailers to continue to exploit their workers and fatten their own wallets.  It’s disgusting and I’m tired of it.  The most important things in this world are the people, and if you value saving that $20 on that stupid flat screen TV more than the people who will have to sell it to you, well then I feel sorry for you.  I don’t expect this little rant to change anything beyond myself, but then perhaps that’s because I’m jaded.  I shouldn’t place my faith in people anyway, but in the God that resides within them.  Unfortunately, even those with God on board don’t always let Him drive…  

I, for one, will no longer participate.  I don’t care if I find that I am missing one key ingredient for every flipping dish I plan to cook for Thanksgiving dinner, I will not darken the doors of a store on that day and encourage this madness any longer.  I’ll stay home and have PB&Js, if I have to.  And you will NEVER catch me standing in line on Thanksgiving to participate in the black Friday garbage.  The only way we will ever be able to shift this horrible consumer-driven trend is for us as consumers to stop feeding it.   If you have a conscience at all (or a family you love) then I ask you to consider doing the same.  By shopping on holidays you are keeping someone away from their family.  It’s as simple as that. 

The SOCIAL NETWORK. (!!!)

I’ve been thinking for quite some time about this subject and wanted to wait until I wasn’t angry to write about it.  I figured if I wrote this when I was angry, then it would be pretty inflammatory and that isn’t usually how I roll.  Plus, I wouldn’t want anyone to think it is in response to any one particular post.  Maybe you'll consider this inflammatory, anyhow.  Who knows.  It's a blog, so I guess ruffling feathers goes with the territory...

Here’s the thing…  I have strong political opinions just like many of you, but because I value people and relationships so highly, I try to keep most of my opinions to myself and invest in people’s lives and add value where I can.  I’m not always successful, but I do try.  I’m a devoted Christian and political conservative, but I have many friends who are of other faiths and political leanings and we just agree to disagree.  We’re grownups, right?  “So, what’s the problem,” you ask?  The problem is Facebook…

Facebook is supposed to be a social network, right? (That’s what the founders call it.)  It’s a virtual hang out.  An online coffee bar without the coffee.  A place to have a laugh, catch up with your friends, make them laugh, etc.  In my opinion, what it shouldn’t be is an in-your-face political campaigning stump, or sales platform.  I’m not sure why some people are so determined to use it as that kind of forum.  Honestly, I don’t have a problem with people posting video links or quotes from their favorite candidate, etc. here and there.  That’s no big deal to me.  I’m fine with people being excited about their candidate (even if they aren’t my candidate) or their faith (even if it’s not my faith), and I don’t have to watch their videos if I don’t want to.  What I have a problem with is people posting offensive or flaming graphics, comments, etc. promoting their take on the issues.  After all, I wouldn’t carry a graphic pro-life poster into Starbucks…

So many posts that I see appear to assume that I’m going to respond with a resounding “Yeah! Absolutely!  I agree!”, when that couldn’t be further from the truth.  I can let a lot of things roll off my back, but when it comes to the hard issues, like abortion, for example, I draw the line.  So what do you do about it?  Unfriend the person?  Throw out the baby with the bath water, so to speak?  I’m certainly not going to comment negatively and start a political comment war (and publicly destroy our friendship in the process).  I, too, have very strong opinions about the hard issues, and when I get on Facebook to check in on my friends’ lives or to have a laugh, it offends me to instead see someone’s post condescendingly promoting their controversial opinion.  Perhaps people just don’t think about it.  It’s easy to forget the spectrum of people you have on your friend list.  Or, perhaps people just don’t care.  I hope that isn’t the case.

So, to all of my friends on Facebook with whom I disagree:  

I definitely care about you and want to continue to be your friend, but please understand that if you are one of these people, I probably have already unsubscribed from your status updates and will, consequently, be out of the loop on what’s going on in your life.  I’m sorry if this upsets you, but please stop and think about the fact that not everyone on your friend list necessarily feels the way you feel about the hard issues.  I know that many of the people on my friends list feel differently than I do, and that's okay with me.

For the record, I believe in God, I believe that Christ died to cover my sins (yours, too, by the way), I believe in my right to carry a gun, I believe in conservative government, and I believe that just because a woman doesn’t want to bear a child doesn’t give her the right to take that child’s life.  These are some of MY beliefs, and there are many more things that I believe, but if I want to discuss these more controversial topics, then I do so in my blog or in private conversations.  I would ask you, as my friends, to do the same.  

I hope we can continue to “agree to disagree” and stay friends, because I truly value you (otherwise you wouldn’t be on my friend list to start with).  I won’t, however, spend my life stressed out and angry because I’ve been blindsided by something that offends me when I thought I was in a seemingly safe relaxing place like Facebook.   I’m sorry, but life is too short to be continually offended when I can avoid it with a click of the mouse…

That's what it's like, being together...

My mom and I went to a movie a while back.  I love spending time with my mom.  We haven't always lived close enough to spend regular time together, so it is such a treat to be able to hang out with her whenever I want.  We met for brunch with my sister and her friend first, and then off to the movies we went.

The movie was "The Iron Lady"and we were seeing the first matinee of the day.  We stood in line waiting to go into the theatre discussing the film and I mentioned that I knew little about it other than it was a biopic about Margaret Thatcher (being an Anglophile, that was enough for me), and that the critics weren't being very kind about the overall story.  My mom  interjected that her understanding was that it was actually a romance.  "Interesting", I thought, "Didn't expect that!"

We were the first ones in the auditorium, so we quickly settled ourselves on the front row.  Not the extreme front row, mind, (that's a headache waiting to happen!), but the front row behind the metal railing and cross aisle.  Best seats in the house, IMHO, because you can prop your feet up on the bar... Anyhow, we took turns saving our seats while the other went to the rest room and then sat through all the obligatory pre-movie ads and previews.  Some good, some rediculous ("Thanks, Lebron James!"  Seriously?  How do they sleep at night?") 

Finally, the lights went down.  People were still trickling in, however, and many of them were elderly.  My mom even commented that only old folks like her were coming to this movie, but that she was glad I came with her.  Shortly thereafter an older couple began making their way across the aisle in front of us, but the lady was moving more quickly than the man.  She turned to her husband and said "Here take my hand.  You can't see?"  "No," he repied, "I can't see."  He took her hand and they continued to their seats.  Then my mom turned to me and said, "That's what it's like, being together."

My heart tightened.  You see, I lost my father several years ago.  I suddenly realized that my mom had lost more than just the man she loved on that day.  She lost her companion.  The person who's hand she would take when the lighting was poor.  Quietly I wiped the tears from my eyes so that she wouldn't see.  You see, my mom hadn't made the remark through tears or with self-pity.  She was celebrating the couple and what they were to each other.  So I will celebrate them, too.

We watched the film, and it was indeed a romance.  We watched as Margaret Thatcher mourned the loss of her dear Denis. And although it was sad, my heart was very thankful that I am blessed to know that kind of love. And I am thankful my mom knew it, too.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.3