The UnChristmas!

Do We Need to Rethink Christmas?

Les Aaron

One of my friends had a great idea. An idea that moves beyond even the promise of Festivus (for those who don't know what Festivus is, I refer them to Seinfeld later episodes).

My friends idea was triggered by my little story about the search for Santa in which I discussed how frightened my big tough friends were of the little tykes who were rehearsing for leading roles in the Lord of the Flies in the days leading up to Christmas with the poor Santa being for the most part, the target de jour!

My friend argued and quite convincingly that perhaps Santa's day was over. Then he went on to question whether there was a legitimate reason for Christmas in the twenty first century considering the true nature of people.

There were some heavy metaphysical concepts discussed, but the genius of his approach bears some mention. Let me see if I can paraphrase his very contemporary concept. Instead of us pretending as if we are all good friends one day a year and showing our goodness and the rest of the time being nasty brutish oafs to each other, why don't we invert the occasion.

Say again?

Yes, it is quite revolutionary. The idea is to be nice to each other for 364 days a year and let our true natures prevail one day a year. This would truly be revolutionary and much more in the spirit that Jesus intended. The challenge would force us to work at happiness. This would not be just a story book hypothesis, but in this iteration something worth striving for. To comply and to be judged worthy to enjoy the real meaning of Christmas, It would be a requirement that we made every effort to be nice to our fellow man every opportunity we had. We could not try to beat others out at taxi stands; we would not push ahead in the supermarkets; we would avoid bullying at every opportunity. And we would show a smile and say, "please" and "thank you" every chance we got. We would work with our children so that they didn't become little beasts; but instead went out of their way to be polite to adults and behave nicely with other children.

When you think about it, my friend’s idea has legs. And, who knows? Perhaps, this holiday reversal concept might fly. It surely offers us something to strive for as we go about the stressful work of building up to be nice for just one day a year which takes huge commitments of concentration and a lot of hard work for so few hours during which we can exhibit these policies. Such an effort surely leads to anxiety and further frustration that could possibly manifest itself in ways seen as rude, ignorant and possibly even aggressive. On the other hand, if we know we have to be nice 364 days a year, we just simple adapt to the challenge understanding that we had no alternative.. It would be much better than going back to our nasty brutish ways after only one day. It hardly seems worth the effort.

We’re conducting a survey on this so that we can promote the concept.
IF it goes over, we will have to develop the appropriate logo and I’m afraid Santa will be a goner. We will also save thousands of Christmas trees around the world, which will help end floods in many outlying areas. And probably lead to a turkey support network.

Of course, there will be a downside. Coca Cola sales will suffer for example. And who knows what will happen to the SuperBowl. Also, Christmas City in China will probably end up having to make beaded moccasins or some such thing. Nor am I sure that the rest of the world will not just think this is another scheme to somehow steal their resources.
On the other hand, if we are nice to everyone for 364 days a year, it could change everyone else’s perception of the USA. And at this stage of the game, that might be a real gain and provide a much needed benefit.

Les Aaron