Thursday, December 22, 2005

Simplify

Whatever country and culture has never heard of Christmas; I want to be there right now. And not a minute tooooo soon!

I’m not a scrooge I swear it. The foundation of my spiritual belief is Christian. I don’t have a problem with celebrating the birth of Jesus.

But Good Gosh!.....since it is nearly Christmas I didn’t say Good GOD......ooops........Everywhere I turn these days there is enormous stress in people. And for those of you wondering, I didn’t start out stressed this Christmas and even now I’m calm, but all around me I keep bumping into folks with the Christmas pooops and they are trying to share it with me. I don’t need the pooops, thank you very much.

It looks like to me it has to do with a vast over extension of the meaning of the holiday (yeah, no kidding Rick?) And the need for families to be in the same house together when they are completely unwilling to do so normally.......except at Christmas. Of course you also have to check all of the presents off the list and ..........Oh shit I can’t remember if cousin Martha bought a gift for me last year, oh no, what should I do?........crap, back into the Mall traffic with irate jerks honking and believing the parking lot belongs to them, and just when you get the chance to move down the parking aisle there is some woman sitting stock dead in the way waiting for the ‘close’ parking spot to be emptied....of course she has crept up soooo close that the current occupant can’t actually back out!......and on and on..........meanwhile the lady two cars from the spot is exiting her car screaming at her 4 and 6 year old to get out of the car and quit fooling around dammit, do it now before I beat you or lock you in the car!...............welcome to Christmas.

Now if any of us dare violate the holiness of the pre-arranged traditional get togethers then there is a heavy price to pay to moms, in-laws, and you can fill in your own family blanks here.

Who wants to be the ONLY person at the office that forgot to buy gifts for everyone? Who wants to be the ONLY person at the office that bought gifts for everyone!

I got a Christmas card from an insurance agent and a real estate agent that I have never met. Gee do you think the birth of Jesus was designed as marketing ploy by God? I don’t think so Mr. Insurance man and Mrs. Real Estate lady. You will now be the last ones I call for those services.

It’s all too much don’t you see. That is why everyone is ready to fistfight you to the death at the mall closeout table. Unfortunately the only way to simplify this out of control poop gathering poop ball is to not let the poop ball start rolling downhill in the first place.

How to do this? Actually it beats me. I’m looking for that culture where when you say the word Christmas everyone looks at you and then asks you what it means. I will start completely over with these unknowing folk. From square one; and we will start by simplifying.

I did talk with a sweet friend named Linda just a couple of days ago. She wasn’t stressed at all. She always has a most remarkable calm surrounding her. I asked her ........How is it that you are always cool and collected?.............Placid is a good word to describe her.

She sez she just simplifies things on a continuing daily basis. She asks herself what is really important and what is not so important. If it is not important, she just tosses it into her mental trash can. It is not always necessary to deal with every little piece of crap (crap is my word, not hers) that people try to hand you she told me, especially during holidays. Linda is wiser than most.

Maybe I don’t have to find another culture. Maybe I should try it Linda’s way.

Simplify.

1 comment:

Robert Shapiro said...

My friend
I have on occasion met other people like Linda whose spirituality is fully integrated - that's the way I see it and it is always so very refreshing to be exposed to these people. I would have to say, to have one friend like her in your life is always going to be like having the desert oasis handy - you don't always need it but when you do it is refreshing indeed.
Goodlife my friend
Robby