Holiday Shopping Musings
This post is going to be a collection of thoughts regarding this season and all the consumerist insanity and stupidity it generates, so I’m going to move from one to another rather quickly. They are just my usual thoughts about these things, so it seems rather pointless to delve deeply into them yet again.
Giving gifts on a certain occasion takes away any meaning they might have had.
If the gift is something the receiver really wanted, offering it when the occasion traditionally demands giving gifts leaves the impression that you could have obtained it sooner, and likely did so, but preferred to wait for that specific day to give it. That means your main motivation was not to offer that person something they wanted, but to have something to give them for that occasion because you felt you had to give them something then. It’s not about them, it’s about you.
If the gift isn’t even something they really wanted then it’s even more clear. You never cared about them at all, you just completed a chore, bought something generic, gave it and called it a job well done. Only it isn’t…
If you want to give someone a gift, you ask them exactly what they want. If they give you an answer and you can afford it, you get it for them as soon as possible, without waiting for any occasion. And if they tell you they don’t want anything, or at least not from you, listen to them! If they say that but expect you to ignore them and get them something anyway it’s their problem, not yours. Your problem is if you get them something they don’t want or wait to give them something they do want until an occasion makes it “appropriate”.
Besides… By far the best gifts are those which money can’t buy.
Which brings us to consumerism. Especially during the holidays, people allow themselves to be brainwashed by this notion that buying things will solve their problems, will make them happier, will please their friends and family and perhaps even appease their enemies. It certainly works for some, but not for long. And besides, why would a thinking person care for those who can be bought?
It’s insanity! Everybody wasting time and money to buy what they are told they need, or at least would make things better. The sad part is that some of them know they’ll be too tired from all the running around and preparations and too worried by the fact that they will have money problems for months to come as a result of their shopping spree to enjoy their purchases, but they still get caught up in it. It’s a tide which many lack the strength to swim against and it shows how not fighting against society is enough to support it.
Which brings me to this… I was looking through one of the many catalogs making their way into this house, thinking the usual thoughts about wasting paper, giving bad gifts and consumerism, when I saw a section with traditional food and sweets. It struck me how sad it is that people these days work more and more in order to earn more and more in order to be able to afford to buy more and more of the things they have less and less time to do themselves because of all the time they spend working in order to be able to afford buying them.
It’s a vicious circle that most people don’t seem to even want to get out of anymore. I guess giving up is their right, but why do they have to take the rest down with them? Because that’s what they’re doing since, as I said above, not fighting against the status quo implies that you support it.
