Aristo! Aristo! A la lanterne!: Not dealing with Christmas very well........

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Not dealing with Christmas very well........

.
Honestly? I'd be just fine with going to sleep tonight and waking up the 26th.

For way too many years, Christmas was turned into hell for me. A time to spend more, more, and ever more... no matter how deep the debt or how hard I would have to work to pay it. "Have to spend this much on that person and this much on those people". No joy, no happiness, just a major greedfest powered by my unwilling sweat.

The joy of Christmas was beat out of me, over years.... Christmas was something to be survived.

Now, there is no more such pressure, and I wish to choose a gift for someone I care about.... and I'm not sure I know how any more.

2 comments:

og said...: We used to do the "plan for months" thing and have a whole list of what to do for whom.

Now, I find something small but very special for a very few people that i care for very much. it's difficult to find just the right thing, but worth it, in the end.; December 15, 2010 at 9:12 PM
James R. Rummel said...: Sorry to hear about your holiday anxiety, carteach0.

I happen to love Christmas. But, then again, I don't have a family myself. So it is pretty much all Me time.; December 17, 2010 at 3:04 AM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

I have this philosophy.... All humans are faced with a choice.

They can become students of human nature, trying to recognize the good and bad within themselves... or they can choose to ignore human nature, and act simply on drives, desires, and instincts. The former is what sets mankind aside from animals, and the latter is to act as an animal.

Making the first choice is harder, more complicated, and creates a difficult path to follow... for it's the basis of knowing right from wrong. There are those who study human nature, and themselves, and actively try to better themselves and do what is right. There are others... people who study human nature, note the flaws inherent to the unthinking herd, and use them as a means to control.

There is no danger greater than the refusal to see, and to think. Doing so leaves one a pawn to anyone awake, aware, and driven to power over others.

Robert Heinlein

"Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please — this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No — and to be rude about it when necessary.
Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you.

(This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)"

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.