Well, the days are flying by and moving us towards Christmas Eve. Traffic is insane and people are uptight, frustrated and not very nice. Courtesy doesn't exist at Christmas time. Goes completely against what we are supposed to be celebrating doesn't it?
If you go to any store and just stand by and watch you'll get an eye full. Not many seem to smile and even less tend to laugh. Eyes are scouring the shelves for the latest toy or gadget. Fingers are gripped on the buggy with a death like ferocity as they weave in and out of aisles.
Shift your gaze towards the check out aisle and watch as gifts are tossed onto the conveyor belts, one right after the other. Heavy sighs as the total gets higher. Fingers peel out the bills or perhaps the ever present credit card that is so eager to be used.
Mounds of wrapping paper shoved into impersonal wire baskets. Bows, gift tags and tape thrown to the bottom just below the gift bags that will be filled later tonight. Chocolate covered cherries thrown without care into the basket and another turn around the corner to look for another meaningless stocking stuffer.
So, shift your position and take a walk down the grocery side of the store and watch as even more tension mounts and people move like robots through the fray. Turkeys, hams, rolls, green beans and yams. All of the normal goodies that will be cooked for a Christmas dinner later. Eyes are glazed over and no happiness is noticed by those passing by because they are too wrapped up in their own busy lives.
We pass each other as if we don't exist. We offer a muffled, "Merry Christmas" or the more politically correct, "Happy Holidays" without so much as a tiny inflection of cheer or love. We buy bright candy canes and don't even take the slightest time to smile at the thought of unwrapping one and biting it in two!
We are numbed to joy. Blind to happiness. Cold to cheer and merriment. People are going through the Christmas motions that happen every year. Nothing new, nothing out of the ordinary. Just another holiday to spend money they don't really have and see people they don't particular like.
So, now it's time to exit the store and find a mirror and take a cold hard look at yourself in the reflection.
What did you do when you picked up those candy canes?
