I’ve never been a fan of the holiday season. (Find me an empathic introvert who is and I will send them a Starbucks card, complete with a drawing of the cup of their choice on the front.) And by this point in my adult life I have done enough of those crappy gift exchanges that I would rather not go to an event then have to spend one more evening watching or hearing people diss crap I’ve made or baked or bought because it wasn’t their cup of tea.
I remember the day my mom, my sister (who rarely swears) and I (I swear a lot) were having a “discussion” about the holidays. I finally said, “Mom, the holiday fucking suck.” And when my mom cut her eyes to my sister, she echoed the sentiment. F-bomb and all.
Is it because I’m empathic? Is it because there is such hypocrisy to me in the “spirit of the season” when most of us (and lemme be the first to point out, I’ve been guilty of it myself) go back to treating other humans like less-than-humans the day after the post-coital-holiday-nirvana-glow wears off? I guess it’s an amalgamation of all of this as to why I’ve always thought that the holidays are just a couple of days of the year where the rest of the world takes off work to buy each other lots of crap that no one needs and generally spend time with people they don’t necessarily like. I want to work to change that mentality. Even if it’s just me screaming into the uncaring ether on a cyberspace soapbox to my 17 regular blog readers.
Here’s my freaking wish for this Holiday and every other. Daesh brought it to the fore this week with the Paris bombings. Right now, I’m angry with my fellow human beings, and I’m disappointed in many people I call friends. But I think it’s been there, simmering in the hearts and hearths of the good old USA for awhile. I really don’t care whether you think Syrian refugees belong here or not, whether homeless vets are more important than Syrian refugees, or not. (No, really, hear me out.) My question is, “What have you done to change it?” (“It” being defined as what moves you emotionally, whether that be Syrian refugees, homeless Vets, abused dogs, pick-a-marginalized-and-underrepresented-group-it-doesn’t-matter-for-the-purpose-of-this-exercise.)
Pick something.
Do something about it. Especially in this so-called “season of giving“, for the love of [insert the name of the god least likely to offend you here] quit drinking the fucking kool-aid laced with fear, and DO SOMETHING actionable. Not reactionable.
Musings from a Glass Artist 
I’m with you about the holidays and the refugees. My new mantra (stolen shamelessly from a Facebook post) is “They have guns, but we have flowers.” Hoping it will be enough.
It’s the hypocrisy the gets me. All give and charity on the 25th, and then boxing day consists of shoving and climbing over the each other to get the deals at Best Buy. I once had to wait for my wife in a mall on boxing day. At the end, it was my back to the wall and eyes on everybody walking by. Watching the well dressed folks carrying shopping bags from high end stores told me for far we had moved away from any real meaning of the season,
And I feel honoured to be counted amongst the 17 regulars. I frequently hear your voice with that Scottish accent we discussed a long time ago. I like how a pissed off Scot sounds :).
Lol! Well we sound a lot more readable in print to be sure 🙂