I'm not going to make my first post a religious one, but boy, the human animal has outdone himself once again this Christmas. Consumerism - fuelled by monstrous amounts of revolving credit (thanks Fiat currency) - and greed is really starting to worry me.
I don't consider myself to be scrooge, but I'm getting very worried with how many friends and family are wanting to keep up appearances. The other day, my wife told me about a friend who'd literally made a demand for a particular type of gift that should be purchased for her teenage son for Xmas. A gift that came with a hefty price tag too - about $100. I personally wasn't too surprised to hear about that as on a previous birthday the same child had sent my wife a text message with the EXACT link to what he wanted on Amazon! Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for buying gifts for folks that they will use or really like, but this type of behaviour is very cheeky.
I think that the majority of people who celebrate Christmas have totally disconnected from what the event is all about. Coupled with "easy money", these days it seems like it's just treated as a competition. I decided to take control of the situation I've just pointed out and sent a gift card instead. I can't wait to see what the response is, but I don't think things like this should be allowed to continue.
When the dust settles from Christmas, you're fat from all the eating and dehydrated from the drink, take a moment to think about your resolutions for the new year - you'll have a week or so to process it all. What I'm going to add right at the top of my list this year is "Reassess who my friends are". Cheeky people, demanding people - no matter if they're family or not - really don't deserve my time and energy. People who want to consume from you and give little or nothing back shouldn't be lucky enough to share your time and life with you.
Give it some thought - I bet everyone who reads this post can think of someone that could do with "unplugging" from your life.