Shiny Happy People
Merry Christmas
It’s that time of the year again, when everybody pretends that all is nice and well and they all pretend to be happy and are nice to each other. It’s the time of the year when people pretend to have a heart, the time when they wish each other the best things in life, give away presents to each other and do good deeds.
I find it amazing that people can be like this, that they can forget all the bad things happening in the world and pretend that everything is nice and well, forget about the people dying on the other side of the world for completely unnecessary reasons, forget about the many children suffering and about the many problems we have to face. They forget about all that and about the bad things they have been doing all year long and go on to pretend to be nice and caring. And in January next year it’s business as usual again. They behave bad again, treat people bad, pursue their own selfish goals without thinking of others, fighting continues etc.
Merry Christmas
Who are they fooling? Not me in any case. Why can’t people behave like this during the whole year? Why can’t people be nice to each other, give away presents and think of the poor all year long? Why do we have to wait until christmas to pretend to care about others? The world would probably be better off if everyday could be christmas.
Apart from that, the holiday season is just one big marketing season. That’s all it is. Marketing. From the end of November you can already see the ads on TV. Businesses just want to sell as much as possible. All the “feel good” things around their promotions are just to get you to buy. Companies plan their entire product releases and marketing campaigns around this season. You have got to buy stuff and give to others, otherwise you’re bad, selfish or scrooged. If you don’t go along, you could also be considered weird and be rejected.
Giving and caring during this time of the year has become some kind of formality. Something people have just agreed to do during this time of the year. There’s mostly no real feeling behind all of it. It’s almost like an obligation.
If you get a present during this time of the year or people seem to care about you, you should wonder if they really wanted to give you something or help you from the bottom of their hearts, or if they just did it because it’s the season where everyone is expected to do it. If you’re homeless, nobody probably looked at you during the year. People walked around you and paid no attention. Around christmas, suddenly people seem to notice you, offer you food and money. Do they really care? Or do they want to feel good about themselves during the “feel good, give and be nice” season? You’ll know as soon as it’s January 2nd.
Does he mean it?
I don’t even want to get started about the religious reasons behind celebrating christmas. I keep wondering what Santa Claus has to do with the birth of Jesus Christ, for example.
So while I look at all the shiny happy people around me giving each other presents and pretending to care in the next few days, I’ll look at the news and see people dying and/or living in poverty, I’ll see homeless children suffering, I’ll see people around me being repressed, being fooled and being denied a good or better life all because of those same shiny happy people. And while witnessing all of this, I’ll be listening to “Shiny Happy People” by R.E.M.
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