With Halloween in the rear-view mirror, it's time to set our sights on what the greeting card folks and carol writers insist is The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. But quite frankly (scrooge alert!) as we round the turn and head for The Holidays (mental, if not actual, capital letters always expected), we (or at least, I) start to lose sight of the reason for the season almost before it starts and regard this time of year as just another obstacle to be cleared, another steeple-chase to be run, another 'thing' to be gotten through.
I'm not alone. I saw lots of grumpy and frumpy folks in recent days, wandering past the ever-increasing number of holiday gift displays in stores everywhere wondering 'what are all these (other) people doing out here shopping today while I'm out here shopping today?' I was, and remain, another obliviot alone on my exercise wheel alongside the other human hamsters, chasing the pellets I want for Thanksgiving dinner and a head start on the Christmas gift lists.
It's a cliche, I know, but that doesn't make it less true: we are blessed as a society. We really do throw away more of everything than most other people on earth have ever had, or will ever have. And yet, given the chance, we cry for the moon and the stars and cry even louder when we all we receive is the sun.
Is it possible our greed grows exponentially as our needs grow arithmetically? How much is enough and how much more is too much? Did The Lord give us two hands so we could take as much as we could grab and two pockets to put it all in? And how are we supposed to offer a prayer of thanks when our mouths are full?
-bill kenny
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