Festivus

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I could hardly believe it.

Today, ten days BEFORE Thanksgiving, I stopped by the grocery store for some juice -- only to be confronted with the incessant annoyance of a Salvation Army bell.

My senses and sensibilities assaulted, I marched past the offender with a scowl, shaking my head at him. The mental message: "You ought to know better. It's too soon!" I might have added, in the thoughts I was trying to send the guy, how I never ever want to hear the sound of that bell again, and that if it only had a more pleasant tone their collections would doubtless increase, but I was in a rush...

It's not that I was in too much of a hurry to think about donating. I was just trying to get past the noise as quickly as possible -- a noise that, at the very least, no one should be hearing for a couple more weeks. As much as I felt like asking him how much it would take to make the noise stop, I couldn't have gotten close enough. It's horrendous. What I really wanted to do was grab the damned thing and silence it, shouting something in his face about how it was much too soon...

It's enough to make me drive farther, to another store, for my groceries. I've done exactly that in years past.

I know they're collecting donations to help the less fortunate. I know they mean well. I just wonder what measures I have to take, to keep from seeing and hearing Xmas-related things before Thanksgiving! Seems there's nothing for it but to go on a month-long hermitage near the end of October.

I also wonder, seriously, what kind of mindset it takes to look so forward to Xmas that you start shopping for decorations in October -- and if retailers ever think about the possibility that some potential customers might AVOID their stores when they decorate too soon.

I know I'm not alone. A LOT of people get depressed during 'the holidays', too many for it to only be about lack of sunlight. There's the sheer pressure of not being able to escape the commercialism, the near-constant reminders of a day you are pretty much forced to spend time with people you'd rather not see -- never mind the expectation of gifts, to give and receive, trying to make people happy, whether you want to or not.

Checking Wikipedia, I was somewhat astonished. It seems nearly every culture has, or has had, a midwinter celebration of its own. Can we hope that, after an end to the rampant commercialism that has ruined the season, people will use this time of year to embrace their heritage and celebrate as their ancestors did?

Now ask yourself: How soon do you think people began decorating for those celebrations? A few days? Maybe a week?


I look forward to the Thanksgiving when I'm able to give thanks that I haven't been bombarded with Xmas crap before the 4th Thursday in November.



Phil Smith
November 12, 2007


PS YESTERDAY was Veterans' Day, and I see no good reason to ever 'observe' it on a day other than 11/11...

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