Archive for December, 2009
And So This Is Christmas
Dec 20th
Christmas means different things to everyone. For some it’s about spending time with family, for others it’s about a holiday, for others it’s about presents, for other’s it’s about celebrating the original story of Christmas. And for some, it may even be a time that reminds them of their loneliness.
When I was a kid, Christmas was 100% about the presents. As far as I was concerned, some dude in a red suit would travel the world and deliver presents to everyone. Cool. I didn’t really think too much about why he would do that, but thinking back on my childhood I can still clearly recall the butterflies of excitement in my stomach as I went to sleep on Christmas Eve.
Then as I grew older I started to feel more and more unformfortable with the commercial side of Christmas. I saw us as a nation spending billions of dollars on ourselves, in many cases buying trinkets for each other that we don’t really need. And I started to appreciate just spending time with my family, rather than appreciating the photo frame or car washing kit or whatever else they gave me that I didn’t really need.
Don’t get me wrong, presents are a great part of Christmas, and are a way of showing we love each other. But if I went down the shops now (5 days before Christmas), I know I’ll see a bunch of people in a grump, yelling at their kids and filling their trolleys with trinkets for people because that’s what you do. They’re sometimes buying a novelty beer glass or a joke book for uncle Bob not because they really want to, but because that’s what’s expected.
For me, Christmas is now all about celebrating with people. And what am I celebrating? Being alive, knowing each other, sharing life with one another, and remembering one of the most amazing events in the history of our planet, when it was spoken:
“Don’t be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy, that will be for all the people! Today, a saviour has been born to you”
Like I said at the start, Christmas means different things to everyone. But whatever it means to you, make sure you take the time to sit beside someone and be real. When you’re about to die, you won’t wish that you bought uncle Bob a better novelty beer glass or joke book, you’ll wish you’d made the most of that opportunity to sit beside him with a drink and experience life together.
Have a great one.
We’re All So Different
Dec 13th
A few months ago on my way home from work, walking to my car, as usual I cut through the shopping centre carpark.
As I walked through the carpark, I noticed about 50 metres away a man standing very close to the back of a car, almost leaning against it. His stance looked strange, and as I got closer, I realised he was actually urinating against the back tyre of this particular car – all out in the open for everyone to see.
Thoughts raced through my mind. Should I confront him about it? Is he drunk? Will he pop me one in the face if I say something to him? There’s children around, this is a public place, you can’t do that. Some poor person is getting their car urinated on! I think I might just turn left and go that way…
But then as I got closer, the strangest thing happened. He finished his business, then got into the car and drove off. It was his own car! This guy had decided “I’d rather wee on my own car in full view of the everyone, than use that public toilet over there”.
I spent my trip home thinking about that guy, and how we’re all so different. Never in my wildest dreams would I consider just going to the toilet where I felt like it. But some people obviously think very different to me. And I was again amazed at just how different we all are, and how we all have our own perspectives and different life circumstances.
Another guy who reminds me of that is Mr Sitting-On-A-Chair-In-The-Middle-Of-India man. When I was a teenager I went to India for a few weeks. As part of a study tour we went to some town in the middle of nowhere, and were touring around the back streets, looking at every day life in India. There were thousands of people milling around the place, but on one particular back road alley, there was one guy who caught my attention for some reason. He was just sitting on an old chair, next to his corrugated iron hut thing, watching the world go by. I only saw him for a split second as we drove past.
I saw hundreds and thousands of people like that, but sometimes I think about that man in particular. As I go about my hectic life, is he still sitting in that chair, down the backend of a maze of backstreets? What’s his life story? How is his life different to mine? What does he do all day? Is he still alive? Does he have family? What are his hopes and dreams? And like him, there are 6 billion other life stories going on at the moment.
Life has so many variations, so many different stories. We’ve all got a unique tale to tell.
So thankyou Mr Weeing-On-My-Own-Car man. You’ve reminded me again about the amazing variety of life all around us.
Australia, The McMansion Homeland
Dec 1st
Well, it’s official. Australian’s now live in the world’s largest homes, at a staggering average of 214.6 square meters (2,310 square feet).
And as if that statistic wasn’t bad enough on it’s own, here’s another one that comes with it. The average number of people living in these extraordinarily large homes? 2.56 people.
What I’m about to say, I also say to myself, so please don’t think I”m judging people, but:
PEOPLE ARE DYING
It’s really easy to just gloss over that statement, especially when it’s a thousand miles away, so I’ll say it again.
PEOPLE ARE DYING!
I know that we don’t have the resources to help them all, but we do have the ability to save many of the 26,000 people who died today from poverty related conditions (lack of food, lack of clean water, preventable diseases, etc).
And yet, because it’s not in our face, it’s so easy to ignore, and continue to fill our homes with plasma screens, dishwashers, dryers, air conditioning, blu-ray players, expresso machines, and the like. We’re becoming addicted to comfort, including bigger homes.
I think it’s healthy for us to have a think now and then about what we would say to some of those 26,000 people who will die tomorrow from poverty. What would we say? Because perhaps what we’re already saying now is, “it’s more important for me to have a 950 watt food processor so I can dice my carrots faster, than to help you”.
I’ve said it before, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with us enjoying the blessings we have, but sometimes I think we can become unbalanced in this area, and forget our responsibilities to those who are suffering.
