“Happy” Holidays

Taking holidays off, or celebrating the holiday? That is the question...

Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and all the rest of the holidays throughout the year. Do we actually celebrate any of them? I have a theory and that is we have forgotten how to celebrate in any kind of meaningful or real way. The founding fathers of this country had a deeper connection with their own spiritual roots, and by definition they lived a much simpler life because the complexities of today just didn't exist. Family and community was all they had that they could rely on so they valued it in a way proportionate to what these things actually provided. Security was in rare supply and without much in the way of medical science lifespans were generally shortened to standards that would be considered a ridiculous degree today. Nevertheless they persevered and made the country what it is today and I don't want to be leaving out all the other Patriots from all the other countries in the world; they also knew what celebration meant as well as loss. Fast forward to the year 2020 and people can't even interact without putting on protective face gear, let alone how to interact socially anymore without screens cluttering up the landscape smartphones, tablets and TVs occupy most of our attention span throughout the day: a lot of us use them constantly in our work so we can't escape it there, and when we go home to unwind?

What do we do?

We instantly turn on the news or maybe just one of the streaming services that we have instant access to, and throw on a show that we've probably seen (or maybe haven't yet) but either way, it's going to be just another rehashing of an old story while we have our family each sitting in their respective corners of their own little virtual world.

Holidays unfortunately are no different the fact that most people go shopping on holidays now it's just one more nail in the coffin I wouldn't say it's the direct cause because it isn't it's just another side effect of it culture that simply places no value on what we consider to be mundane human interaction. Sad times for sure, taking a break going to church forces you to reject the technocratic world we tend to occupy day in and day out even if it's only for an hour at a time. I highly recommend it as a spiritual anchor to what really is important. And know this even though some of the people in whatever congregation you happen to be in on whatever Sunday you might have chosen to go might not be the perfected ideal and there might be people there you dislike, simply recognize the fact that they're trying and so should you. Unless of course you're the type of person who would make fun of a fat person in a gym… for you I'd recommend going straight to confession.

As for stores being open on these holidays especially on the higher holidays, the ones with real meaning I can't help but think that these stores are not helping do good instead they continually propagate this materialistic worldview the too many of us are enraptured by, keep the stores closed keep the families together not wandering the halls of some mall, talking laughing just enjoying each other's company that's what they're for both families and holidays. I can't blame the stores entirely it's up to us as people to not be simply shoppers churning out wads of cash and entertainment for all the people who want to see the Black Friday sales insanity on YouTube. You need to unplug from that culture and try to remake some semblance of the old one in that holiday is short for "holy day" we could use some sacralizing in our lives these days.