Today I am writing from Istanbul:
For many people around the world this is a time for planning the gatherings of families and friends. A lot of this energy is focused around the Christmas time celebrations.
The irony is that we often allow ourselves to get so stressed out over the details that the point of this time all gets lost in the mail.
Exchanging gifts has long been established as a custom for the Christmas time. Every news broadcast is talking about the spending reports of shoppers each day and forecasting the season like a sporting match that we must win by spending more. The message is to spend lots and save the economy. – ouch!
Here are a couple of other ways to go rather than getting caught up in the consumer game.
Donate money to a charity that represents something you believe in and then give out cards to the the people on whose behapf you did that for instead of gifts.
Here are a couple of possibilities:
Red Cross – Always doing good work out there
World Vison – Look for the gift catalogue and give a goat or a well for water.
US Campaign for burma - http://www.uscampaignforburma.org/ needs your support
Let your gift dollars create important social change on the planet.
Be well
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3 comments:
Nice one, Patrick - a very timely reminder!
'Giving' and 'consumerism' are in no way the same thing and it IS very easy to get the two confused.
And I would add a reminder that the celebrations at this time of year are in a big way derived from ancient celebrations around the seasons and the light/dark. Winter solstice is 21/22 December; a good time to give thanks for the variety brought by the seasons, to get ready to rest - just like nature does at this time of year, and to light a candle in remembrance that the darkness gives way to light again.
Thanks Nick,
Yes, we are approaching what is known in native traditions as the Kiva time, It is a period of four months to go in, to reflect on what is passed, to let go, to rest, and to then prepare new seeds for the coming spring.
What a lovely sentiment. Thank you for articulating it. And thank you for including World Vision. I am a monthly sponsor - through them - of a precious little girl in Mozambique. And through her we touch the family and the community. I realize the significance of the dollars flowing into that community; I am not discounting that. Yet I believe the gift I get from sponsoring her is equivalent. Knowing that this precious child is there, that she goes to a school even though it doesn't even have a latrine, that she has enough food now that perhaps the next picture I get of her will show fewer signs of malnutrition, that she gets my cards and letters and know that I care about her puts a light in my life that nothing else does. Oh, I have much joy. And yet that particular joy is exceptional. Do indulge yourself and others with either a one time gift or a longstanding commitment. The return is better than any thank you note I've received.
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