Christmas: A rant

Let me say it clear: I do not want to abolish Christmas; I am just frustrated with the beast that it has become in recent years.

I hate the way Christmas turns people into proactive gift recipients who expect people to give them presents. Newsflash, the idea of a gift is that it is given because those who want to 'give' so freely chosen to render gifts it cannot be the other way around.

I hate the way taxi drivers see it as a license to overcharge, choose passengers whine and make you feel that you should give them an extra on top of their meter rate.



I hate the way some Christians always say that it is under threat from the secularists because the politically correct term for "merry Christmas" has been turned into "happy holidays". Yet they find nothing wrong with how Christmas celebration has long been sitting comfortably with ideas like consumerism.

I hate the hypocrisy of those who are anti-Christmas. Because they don't want it in their secular society yet, they still enjoy their Christmas holiday leaves, Christmas bonuses and all the perks that their hated holiday gives them.

I hate the way Christmas has become a consuming frenzy that has made shopping malls replace cathedrals as the place to be for the holidays.

I hate the way that a child's Christmas experience is now summed up into how much cash or how many gifts, they were able to get for Christmas.

I hate how it creates traffic jams. I hate how stressful the streets have become. I hate how we are being lulled to merry for all the wrong reasons.

I hate how it has lost its innocence and made us forget about those wonderful memories of celebrating it without having much, without electronic gadgets and without the branded things that have replaced the joy that comes with remembering that point in time when we were young and we only need our family to make us happy.

Ultimately, I hate how in spite of the glitz glamour and hype still a significant 99% go to bed hungry, have no job, and live lives that lack freedom, purpose and meaning clinging to nothing but that faint hope that comes from that story of a child born on a manger to become God with us which sadly has been replaced by the consuming hype of capitalism that keeps on forcing its idolatry of materialism in our faces.