'Tis The Season...

We have all heard of the concept of peace, love and understanding, the comfort and joy thing as well as the rest of the myth that gave rise to the holiday season. Although being jolly has many of it's own rewards, we find ourselves facing some pretty serious times, that require a serious look as well as some fairly drastic action. I am personally accused of being "too happy", with no explanation or elaboration. I'm still not sure what that means, but I am sure that without a healthy dose of humor and levity, I would have devolved into a hopeless state long ago. I fear that many have forgotten the good that comes with our shared myths of giving and re-birth, focusing instead on acquisition and intransigence.

Especially in the United States of America, there seems to be a mood of dis-ease. Often, it is blamed on one group or another with little attention to the larger picture. We seem to delight in letting people help themselves to "resources", even human ones, cash, greed, government hand-outs and nature's many bounties. Frequently we point to their successes as proof that capitalism works. When greed, exploitation and self serving ways bring our economy to it's knees, we turn away, not wanting to face capitalism's failures, telling our people to "spend our way out" of economic decline. This is the time of year that we see this most poignantly. Our leaders are short-sighted enough to continue tilting at windmills obscured by the media fog. Endemic misunderstanding has led to institutionalized ignorance. As we have seen, most issues are couched in inflammatory rhetoric, rather than insightful reflection on where we have come from or indeed where we might be headed.

Trying to get a grasp on reality in the maelstrom of media snippets can feel like a drowning man trying to grasp the greased hull of his capsized boat. At least if you are set adrift on a raft, there is the possibility of hope. When everything we grasp seems to fall away like sand on a steep slope, we can't help but take two steps back for each one forward. During the seventies and eighties, many of the social change advocates chanted the mantra, "Kill your television". Today, the times have changed enough to shout down this basic admonition. Many folks believe that they are informed and educated by the idiot box. The entertainment that this technology provides, and the constant advertising that is given life in this media format, both dull the senses and couch lies in the guise of authority. Without a highly developed sense our own value, of analysis, of truth, much of what passes the censors can lead to artificial truth, manifestation of the imaginary or even a sense of self-loathing.

The technology that took us light years beyond Guttenberg has devolved into a source of universal values that, for the most part, detest fact and turn their backs on reality. Oddly enough, our comedy most clearly resembles life itself, but the heroes are frequently trite dupes, boorish idiots or out of control consumers. Through marketing, we highlight the seedy side of these characters, and their ability to ally themselves with our own "reality" and sense of self. I have tried to pour myself into this mold, unsuccessfully as you might have guessed. The stories that grew out of this attempt could be inspiration for an entire book, but my hope is that others who think critically about what we are doing will have the same experience that I did. I am not stronger for the effort, nor proud of the time that I spent in search of complacency. Instead, the fire that was kindled in me during war protests of the sixties, has been tended and indeed fed by the things I have learned by participating in the current consumerist culture.

Standing in line, waiting for a store to open, the day after Thanksgiving, hoping for a "chance" to buy a two-hundred dollar television three years ago was possibly the lowest point in my search for the New American Dream. Even as I grabbed the box that held the device, I felt like a disembodied agent of consumption. By the time I had straightened my knees, from squatting down to pick up the box that held my reward, an entire pallet of identical items had disappeared and their purchasers had turned to the next "quarry" on their list. I guess my only wanting one item was my nemesis, because once in hand, I had time to reflect on the feelings that came with my action. Turning from where the pile of televisions had been, I could see dozens of faces of people who arrived too late. I saw the faces of those who I had run past on the way in who were disappointed. I nearly gave my television to one of them, but then I realized that the same expression might come across my wife's face if I came away empty-handed. If I had only waited, the same television is now half price, but the folks selling them cannot stimulate the "demand" that Black Friday inspires.

Lest I leave you with a sense of foreboding or despair, there is a move toward sanity taking place. It is the un-televised revolution that we heard of in song. An inspired marketing campaign has begun this year in which the Saturday after Black Friday is being billed as "Buy Local Day" I think Sane Saturday is a better name, but whatever we cal it, the sentiment is the same. We need to build community to overcome the exploitation and desolation of our consumerist culture, share our own abundance and reward those we care about, our neighbors, rather than faceless and unnamed corporations. We are part of an interconnected web of life, whether we know it or not. This post is my plea for everyone to start living like it, rather than acting like we are apart from that which gives us life. The give away is the most powerful tool for magic in the world. It has the power to change lives for the better, both those of the giver as well as those of the receivers.