Just before Christmas I happened to turn on the radio just in time to hear a performance of Handel's Messiah. I was struck forcibly by the topicality of the aria "Why do the nations rage so furiously together? And why do the people imagine a vain thing?".
There was plenty of nations raging furiously together over Christmas, though actually it was mostly internal raging: Pakistanis furious at the murder of their opposition heroine, Benazir Bhutto, and Kenyans furious at the blatant rigging of their election result, but I want to concentrate on the people's vain imaginings.
Those were most starkly illustrated by the annual rush to the salerooms as soon as Christmas was over - or even before that, as millions of pounds were splashed out on-line on Christmas Day itself. Whatever happened to pigging out on lunch and slumping in front of the telly for the rest of the day, too bloated or too drunk to move? Ah, tradition's not what it was! Of course, Christmas long ago stopped having any connection with religion, but it used to be at least a brief hiaitus of calm when there was nothing to spend money on because all the shops were shut.
It's quite amusing in a way: Christianity hijacked the pagan winter festival to serve as the nominal birthday of Christ (nobody actually has a clue which day he was born on), now the new paganism has hijacked it back in the service of Mammon. Xmas (as it is now called) is the highlight of the spending year, ushered in by the frenzy of Xmas shopping and ushered out by the January Sales (starting in December).
Spending for what, though? To buy happiness, of course! This is the vain thing that most people now imagine. Richard Layard's book 'Happiness' - subject of the Enfield & the Barnets UNA Book Group's last discussion - makes it clear enough that, once basic needs are adequately met, more money (let alone more goods) does not bring more happiness. An article in today's Guardian by Oliver James goes further: selfish capitalism is bad for our mental health. It's not too good for our economic wellbeing, either, as the 'credit crunch' with which we are all now threatened will bring home to those of us who have been over-reliant on their credit cards.
It's hard to argue with Oliver James' point: you have to be slightly unhinged to brave Oxford Street on a Saturday afternoon just before Xmas, or the first day of the 'January' sales, but thousands do. No wonder I find 'Xmas time' such a depressing time of year.
Family, freinds, lovers, neighbors, co-workers, the postman, people from your church, people you like, people you don’t like, your ex-husband or ex-wife (I know you don’t want to, but take one for the team), the cashier at Walmart, your child’s teacher, the kid in the drive-thru window at McDonald’s, the random encyclopedia salesman that knocks on your door while your eating dinner, the pushy car salesman who doesn’t believe your “just looking,” the overweight plumber wedged under your kitchen sink
Posted by: Louis Vuitton Bags | August 11, 2011 at 02:56 AM