A new year (bah, humbug!)

I am feeling spent from the Holidays.  Resolutions based on the calendar are meaningless just as giving gifts to people on a sanctioned day rings hollow. But it is over for now and each year it becomes easier to detach myself from the noise and distaste of the season.  It's not that I don't love my friends and family.  It's the month long orgy of conspicuous consumption and over indulgence that wears me down.

Let's have a week of unfettered celebration that occurs between December 18th and December 24th.  The Winter Solstice would be nestled between three buffer days, so everyone could get ready, do whatever they want and have ample time to get their act together and fall back into their normal routines.  It would be like the "Red Hour" in Star Trek's The Return of the Archons or not unlike Carnival in Brazil.  Christians, Jews, Pagans and everyone else can go wild for a week, blow off some steam and return to work purged and ready to resume life as it is for the remainder of the year.  People could do as they choose for the week with no pressure to follow a script.

Giving gifts is a beautiful gesture when the intention is genuine and heart-felt.  We should bequeath  presents to each other 365 days a year as we see fit not when we ought.  Right about now my wife would say "Bah, Humbug!"  And it's true: I am Scrooge-like from November 26th to January 1st.  The poverty in Dickens,' A Christmas Carol (and all of his works) is a disturbing reminder of what life is like in a society lacking assistance for the needy. 

As a culture our primary objective is to become rich.  Poverty is associated with failure and criminality (in the U.S.), so our overriding concern is to not end up living in a van down by the river.  Because we fear poverty to such a great extent we ignore it.  During the Holidays we are encouraged to give to the needy to assuage our guilt for not having done so the rest of the year.  This delusional state of affairs corrupts every aspect of our lives.  How can we expect to have healthy minds when we foster disparity out of fear.

Life is not a numbers game.  I don't care how much you make or how much you lift.  What I care about is how you treat other people.

"You are fettered," said Scrooge, trembling. "Tell me why?" "I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost. "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.”
― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol