Mood:
happyNow Playing: Stereolab: Dots and Loops
Contrary to popular belief, Christmas is complicated. There are so many conflicts to wade through, such as age, finances, family situation, and work responsibilites. (to name a few).
For instance, AGE: if you are overweight and in your late 40s, and should be closely monitoring your diet, how much do you give in on Christmas day when the plate of turkey and stuffing is passed around? Indulging on Christmas is part of the fun, even if it seriously complicates your health?
FAMILY SITUATION: A child-free Christmas vs. a child-oriented Christmas. How much do you focus the day around the children, how spoiled should they feel? As a working parent, do you feel your time off should be spent relaxing for yourself, or working even harder for your children.
At the end of the holidays, it sees we're all left with a sense of "what is it all for anyway?" I mean talk to Stephen about the Zombie Christmas-Eve shoppers who have checked their brain into another dimension, and beg to be told what to buy, as they have no clue what to do for presents.
FINANCIALY: People go into more debt than any other time of the year around Christmas. Why? Because it's the season of giving? No, because Christmas is complicated, and no one feels in control of themselves, their families, or their chequebook.
In short, Christmas is out of hand. And as many Christians would probably interject at some point in my rant so far, that Christmas is actually a very simple occasion: it's about the birth of Christ, the saviour of the world.
In turn this presents another conflict: how to balance between secular and religious Christmas. Many simply visit church (often the only time all year--what a priveledge for the Churches) on Christmas Eve, and then spend Christmas day indulging in secular traditions. Quite acceptable by most standards.
Now, at this point in my young life, I am confused. I am not a church-goer, and I tend not to follow "secular" ways either. So Christmas doesn't hold much weight with me either relgiously or secularly.
Ideally I would like to try to give nice presents on people's birthdays, when the occasion is actually for them. And as for celebrating Christ's birth as a non-church goer, I appreciate the need for having sprituatlity. So every reminder to increase love, compassion and joy in the world is most welcome. Except that I think focusing heavily on this only once a year, is hypocritical. It should rather be a reinforcement of attitudes nurtured all year long. Therefore, marking one day of the year to go to church, to remind us to be giving and caring people is not good enough. But again, going to church every Sunday hasn't worked for me in the past, even though it certainly works for hundreds of thousands.
But I believe that going to Christian church can not be the only way to cultivate positive attitudes. In fact, looking at current world events, understanding diversity, especially religious diversity, is desperately needed throughout the world. That is what strikes me as the best Christmas message, secular or non.