Seeing 2010 (#170)

For your consideration: another season of madness, chaos, traffic turmoil, premature yule muzak attacks and guilt-driven, affection-seeking desperation shopping is coming to a close . . . as I author this post the clock has struck midnight thus it might be safe to emerge for a look around -- there's zero shopping days left, after all. At last.

This year I again celebrate the survival mode victory of not having come anywhere near the lethal gravitational vortex of the major shopping mauls. With a few exceptions I am giving as gifts some of my photographs which I hand-matted and framed, most in a marathon session last weekend. This kept me indoors and safe from the frenzied retail insanity which long ago sucked out the last of any genuine connection to the original spiritual intent of this holiday. As a result I was blissfully insulated from the national duress of dashing to and fro in search of enough acquired goods to satisfy some ill-defined, personal mental/emotional balance sheet (one must ensure that nobody was "overlooked).

Until today, when, after spending a pleasant time talking with my friend Kevin over coffee in a large bookstore's café, I made the mistake of surveying the shelves just in case I might spot just the right book for so-and-so and/or another family member or two or three . . . Before I realized it I had become agitated, and found myself pacing the store, caught up in the mob mentality swirling all around me. I had to exit, quickly -- but not before buying those last two gifts, unplanned and unnecessary. My serenity had been submerged and blurred by searching for an external substitute for internal blessings.

Where and when did we lose our way? At what point did we drink the groupthink concoction and unconsciously -- or even more disturbing, knowingly -- succumb to a social contract wherein material offerings given once a year displaced the essential, vital and healing charity of offering one's time, affection, and compassion to not only loved ones and friends but also to the poor, the struggling, and especially to those who most challenge and annoy us -- on a daily basis?

For quite some time now we've been hypnotized by the dazzling lights of monetary monotheism.

Merry Christmas.

Now, let's bring on a fresh, new year -- and just perhaps might we do it a bit differently this time?

Shopping Spree, #9088

© 2010 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: June 26, 2010; Canon 20D; f/5.6 @ 2.5 secs; —2/3 EV; ISO 100; 55mm.

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