12 January, 2012
Christmas – the bliss and joy for all of those who recognize the Birth, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Savior! But behold! This loftiest reason for human celebration has acquired an uncanny power of ruining the otherwise perfectly organized social life in America, and more or less balanced psyche of the American society. America starts shaking of fear and nervousness as soon as the great Holiday season approaches the shores of the happy land of opportunity. America becomes crazed and goes unrecognizably berserk when the time for ticket reservations and gift-purchase hysteria arrives. Unwanted trips and unwelcome dinners, unlikely presents and unduly furnished smiles when opening those presents, loaded credit cards and emptied pockets, shattered nervous systems and depleted bowls of patience, bursting heads and nauseous hangovers, lines in stores to return the disappointed relatives and haunting sense of guilt for the done wrong which you have never meant to do! Why all this crap! For what good and benefit in life? Why schedule and later reschedule the tiring holiday hours hundreds of times when you can just as well stay where you reside, and give yourself a chance to relax and meditate on your Christian life, so timely and generously presented for observation by the Anointed One himself? What if turning the celebration of Christmas into a burdensome Christian obligation could someday be reckoned as another venial sin if canonically parsed and analyzed? Moreover - what if the industrially imposed commercialization of the great Christian red-letter day is considered a mortal sin by Providence that may never be set aside and ignored as long as you are a Christian – hence celebrating the Immaculate Conception and the Divine birth of the Messiah? Christmas should generate love and understanding among people – instead, it gives impetus to conflicts and tears; Christmas must give us a chance of relieved rumination about our past doings and future good works – instead it triggers irritation, frustration and nervous breakdowns; Christmas has to make us better human beings, willing to treat others as we would have wanted to be treated by them – instead, it focuses us on better financial performance and technically smart deliverance. America is losing mind when it comes to the days of Christmas festivities, burdening itself with what is not at all compatible with what our Christian forefathers had wanted us to do – go to church and pray, behave gentle, be considerate, help when the help is needed, make it easier for others to survive, live and let live, think of how much kind you have done in the past, and how much good you are ready to sow in the future. Christmas is supposed to be a pleasure, not a pain! Won’t you ever get this straight, America?
GEL
