Look, seriously... There is nothing out there that anyone needs. And the idea that I'm gonna buy my wife a car or something like that is just outrageous. Or a chocolate diamond. Really? A chocolate diamond? Are people honestly that stupid?
I guess they must be.
*sigh*
I'm sick of this crap. I mean, it's one thing for me to get my kids a couple of Barbies and a few Lego sets in honor of the holiday, but it is something else entirely for an entire industry to sit there and try to pressure me so relentlessly over a holiday for a guy who, let's face it, nearly always said, "Give away all your money and possessions and follow Me." This was not the message of conspicuous consumption, folks. "From each according to his abilities, to each, according to his needs" is Marx, but it could have easily come out of the Bible, and it strikes me as a decent motto in a season that's supposed to be about giving. Because, bottom line, the question isn't "What do I get for the woman who has everything?" The question is, "How, in Christian love (or in love of any other sort), can I give to my community?"
And trust me, the answer isn't a Leo Diamond or a Lexus or even a family four-pack of tickets to Six Flags for next season (although I may very well buy a set of those). The answer, I hope, is finding a way to make your life mean something, a way to look beyond just the needs of yourself and your family. Maybe that's volunteering, maybe it's giving to charity, maybe it's just giving blood. I don't know, and it's not for me to say--at least, not in your behalf, anyway. But I will say that all this relentless commercialism in support of the Prince of Peace is...
Well, it's a little much, y'know?
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