'Tis allegedly the season to be jolly they tell you.
Actually, nix that. 'Tell' is far too gentle. They scream this message of theirs at you from television sets, newspapers, advertising, shopping complexes etc. etc. Don't for a second be fooled into believing that the "they" I mention above refers to Christians, in any way, shape or form or the concept of Christmas.
I refer to those marketing tools that set about trying to turn the end of the year into some sort of commercialisation bonanza, where "Spend spend spend!" is the unequivocal order of the day. This red-suited OAP to the right has been reduced to no more than a symbol of the mass hysteria that grips the masses at the year's end. What was supposed to be a 4th Century saint who gave out gifts to the underprivileged (including, interestingly enough, the dowries for three sisters so they could get married and not turn to prostitution), is now someone who actually decides to be petty enough and decide who deserves a present and who doesn't.
And my ire isn't aimed only at them. Although this next phenomenon is seen all year round, it tends to rear its ugly head in the largest and ugliest possible way around this time of year. I am of course, describing the way the union between a man and a woman is executed. A wedding should essentially be about two people deciding to spend their lives together. What then, is the purpose of lavish and pointless sets (as in films, considering most wedding venues look like they've been ripped out of a film's set), stages and elaborate costumes? What is the purpose of spending four hours dressing up, only to sit and bitch about how someone else must have spent hours dressing up and still couldn't pull off the look? What is the purpose of bearing a plastic smile for hours on end as you meet people you've never met before and will never meet again (in all likelihood) as they queue up to congratulate you? Worse yet, on a day that's supposed to be the greatest day of your life, people and their families are stressed out beyond belief to make sure that everything is just right. There will be those who will undoubtedly believe in the grandeur and scale of it all, stating that a special occasion merits a special function and would even believe that all the heartburn is worth it in the end.
Why though? Why should a special occasion mean so much demonstration and posturing? Why can't it just be about spending that special day with those who are truly special to you and none else? Doing what is special to you and not what looks special from the outsider's point of view?
I hate to be a festo-phobe (another creation) or someone who hates all festivities, but in addition to lavish weddings, birthday celebrations, new year's celebrations and other times of the year that have been ruined by commercialisation really tick me off.
What was your achievement in terms of celebrating a birthday? Staying alive?
Do you celebrate and plan parties when April ends and May starts? Exactly. So why get so worked up about the end of December? And to those who claim that it's better because it's the end of the year, I say this: Doesn't January always follow December? Right. Similarly, to me, April is the last month of the year, because that's when colleges and schools end and stuff... Pardon the digression.
Like so many of my other posts, I've lost the point of what I was going to say and so I'll bring this to a close pretty sharpish. Before I do that, rather than use this time of year as an excuse for escapism and living in the false hope that everything will change, how about trying to see where you can make a difference to yourself and those around you in the next year WITHOUT it coming off like a half-baked new year's resolution. And this need not be only at the end of the year; How about at the end of every month? The end of every week? Or when you get home every night?
Note: Comments are as always, most welcome. But pointless remarks that have nothing to do with anything and come across as a mere exercise in self-promotion will be deleted or worse, will result in their writer being suffocated under layers of scorn. Yeah, not suffering fools is one of those ways in which I'm making a difference this year.
3 comments:
I disagree with you on the point of Christmas this year.I felt in fact that they didn't even try to mask their ulterior motives with the 'Christmas spirit'
I really like the sentiment behind this one.
I agree that maybe it makes a lot more sense if you start anew every month and work on doing things better whenever you want, and not at the tail-end of December.
And there is no festival that isn't commercialised. The sad part is people are forgetting how to celebrate simply.
All said and done, I still feel like December 31st is special. Though if you don't see it like that now, you probably never will, and I can never accuse you of being a thorough romantic anyway.
And... *clears throat*
women will throw themselves at you?
....
They've got it coming then, don't they?
man, although i agree that the whole 'christmas' thing is so up its own arse it's seeing double, i still think there's something there...
i got so damn grouchy this time that i was ready to just run to the hills for a few days and wait it out, but then christmas day came and, as always, it came hard (heehee). i woke up earlier than i had in months...i ran downstairs with a song in my heart...etc etc...
the point is i felt special, and not the KP 'oh, he's a bit weird' kinda special, REAL special...i don't need a day put aside to tell people how much i care about them, i tend to do that fairly often anyway...but christmas, past all the shit that surrounds it, is still a day when i have an excuse to tell everyone i care and not feel weird...and i think that's essential.
as for new years eve...well mabe it's different for me, but this year it was fricking awesome. my whole vilage gathered in the village square and sang together, did a little dance...it was very primal, very quaint, and very overwhelming. but then, we don't all live in small villages...
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