My wife thinks I hate all holidays. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Secretary's Day...she thinks I hate all days of celebration and/or recognition. She's wrong but she has a strong opinion on it(and ties to the New Jersey Mafia) so I let her think it.
I don't hate holidays. I hate commercialization. I hate status quo. I hate the notion that I have to get so and so a present of so and so value or they are going to wonder why I no longer like them. I hate the notion that you have to allot $400-$500 to Christmas or you are a failure and a Grinch.
Now this flies in direct opposition of the fact that I love both giving and receiving gifts. I really do. My favorite thing in the world is giving. And I am not ashamed to say I like getting stuff too (so if you are in the giving mood and have any photography or music gear, a spare Xbox 360 or a pot of gold, well, here I am!)
I just don't like the undue stress that the holidays bring. More directly, I don't like the stress that the holidays bring my wife...which filters directly down to me. But that's a whole other post. Heck, that's a whole other blog for another day!
I think my problem is not with holidays. I think it's a deeper and more fundamental problem. I have this need within me to buck every tradition, every "normal" method of doing things.
I am the guy who was born in a completely white, completely rural area of TN and as a kid I thought I was Sammy Davis Junior tap dancing in my Sunday shoes on my moms wooden floors. I'm the kid who had an extensive knowledge of both Glen Campbell and Run DMC. I'm the guy who likes electronica, industrial, rap, classical, Americana, rock, goth and alt.country but detests most commercial pop and virtually all commercial country. I don't have aspirations of meeting celebrities or political figures. They are people and their fame doesn't interest me.
I don't like to be told what to do (usually). I don't like rules...unless they are my rules. Then I don't like to change those. But again, that's another post for another day.
I question everything. I am the best devil's advocate. I can argue either side of an argument just for fun.
I do have my beliefs. I do have my faith. But I have and do question it all sometimes. I think you have to. I think if you want it to be real you have to disect it and see what it's built on and what it's made out of. And I realize my beliefs in everything are evolving. As my life changes I build upon a core, I keep questioning whats going on, where I am and what is being given to me from those around me.
More than anything I want the truth out of life. Ugly and beautiful. Devestating and exhilerating. Futalistic and eternal. I want the truth and I don't think its found in the mass-thought.
What is the point here? I don't even remember. I'm a complicated cat.
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving....and I do mean that.
Later On, Further Out,
Chris Cummings
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2 comments:
Chris i must agree with you on all that holiday craze. I think ever year I find myself dreading the day after halloween because that is when all the craziness really begins. That is when me as a mother of four of the greatest children ever, begins to attempt to make sure that they have the greatest christmas ever. Of course in my mind (and more importantly theirs) that involes video games, dinosaurs, and lots and lots of barbie dolls.It means I will work longer hours and wake up the day after thanksgiving at 2 am so I can hit ALL THOSE SALES!!! But how did this happen to my family. How did Christmas become such, well I am going to say it, a let down. I mean my months of stress are over in 15 mins on Christmas morning under a tree and you guessed it I am busy clenaing up wraping paper as they decide weather or not I have done a good job playing santa.How did this happen to my family, the same way it happens to so many, we have taken the focus off the real reason for the season. We are so caught up in us that we forget we should be so caught up in Him. Can't we a least give Him one holiday that we allow Jesus to be the source of our joy, I can guarentee you that if we did we would never ever feel "let down" on Christmas morning again.
This year I do hate holidays. Though it was good to see my family. On the other hand, we went to Dixie Stampede Xmas-O-Rama.
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