After discussing Christmas in class I have noticed that we have been following the same pattern every year, we have been told how to celebrate Christmas. From decorating our homes to putting up a Christmas tree with ornaments and such things that are images of Santa. The real meaning of celebrating Christmas is "an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas)
On Christmas Day, it has been a tradition for my family and I to decorate our home with lights,put up the Christmas tree, fill it up with gifts, and cook a family dinner. This year was pretty different than every other Christmas becuase it was only my parents, my brother and I. We decided this Christmas was going to be different because we always did the same thing every year. We always celebrated Christmas as our culture has taught us to celebrate.
Everyone has their own meaning for celebrating the holidays. I think that the main reasons are religion, and respect for the country's culture. We also have why there are people who don't celebrate holidays which is individuality.
Lets take for example, religion. Christians celebrate Christmas very different from other religious groups. They believe Jesus was born on that specific day and to pay respect to him, they celebrate it. From setting up the symbols that represent him such as "baby Jesus" which they place underneath the Christmas tree- to saying prayers. They value this day and feel it is necessary to give up their time to say thanks to God. I can relate to this becuase I am a Catholic who has been taught that I should pray and thank God for everything I have in life.
I have been pretty confused with the reason why I have been trying so hard to be accepted in my society by celebrating and doing things the way our culture tells us to. I know that everyone has different levels of how important and valuable a holiday is to them, but I feel that it should be the individual's choice on how to do and celebrate something. I believe when a child comes to an age of making his or her own choices, they should have a say in which they want to believe in something or not. For example, if someone doesn't want to continue their religion, they should have the right not to believe in it anymore as long as they have morals set for them and respect others beliefs.
One dominant message about Christmas is fitting into the society. Everyone wants to be accepted into the world, but being an individual is what separates you and makes you an independent person. If people were to make their own choices on how to do things in life, I feel like Christmas wouldn't be so commercialized. We wouldn't spend so much money on things that are images of Christmas and other holidays such as Halloween and Easter. We would think about our own beliefs and save our economy. Christmas would be just a day that everyone would have a day off to relax and think more about life such as the difference between a meaningful and meaningless life.
One marginal message about Christmas is hurting the environment.
-Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United States since about 1850.
-Until fairly recently, all Christmas trees came from the forest.
-In 2002, Oregon, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Washington, New York, and Virginia were the top Christmas tree producing states. Oregon was the leading producer of Christmas trees – 6.5 million in 2002. (http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/trees/facts.cfm)
No one realizes the harm Americans are causing in our country. We have been destroying our own country by feeling the need for spending so much money on things that are supposed to be images of Christmas, that we have been so blind. This is one of the marginal messages that have tried to reach the public, but since our culture prohibits many messages, we can never reach our goal to send the positive messages that can finally be something useful to our society.
In conclusion, I believe that people should have their own beliefs in life. It doesn't really matter what others think.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Trampled Wal-Mart worker
I did expect crazy things to happen on Black Friday, but to imagine people getting injured and one even losing his life, was outrageous. An innocent man has lost his life becuase of brainless people who have nothing better to do than break down the doors of a store and trample someone to death and all to buy their families crap made by wage slaves in China, sold by people who aren't even making a living wage to people who really can't afford what they are buying. I think that this is insane. I bascially feel that Black Friday should be banned, becuase of these people's actions, someone's life has ended and his family's happiness has been destroyed.
You can see that on this day the majority were the middle class, who can be pretty selfish and aggressive people, especially on days there are sales going on in stores. Their lack on intelligence is just unacceptable. To barge into a store, to race one another to get to that one item that's on sale for $20 less is rhetorical. I'm just really disappointed that not even one person who was apart of the stampede of human beings was capable of trying to help the people who were practically getting stomped to death. For example, the pregnant woman of eight months was pretty stupid in going into a crowd like that, to go shopping but besides the point...she was a pregnant woman and not everyone is blind. My point is all those people out there bascially committed a crime, they trampled someone to DEATH and left many injured. They should definitely feel ashamed for acting like animals.
In the article, when it discusses about the Walmart employee who died, "He was such a young man with a good heart, full of life. He didn't deserve that." This saying after someone dies is pretty common and just becuase he was such a "nice" guy doesn't mean he wouldn't have died any time soon...but on the other hand he was a very young man to die at age 34 must be pretty hard to believe and I really feel bad for his family that now has to go through this sorrow and pain. They must feel furious to know the way he died. He literally trampled to death and no one helped until it was too late.
Throughout all of this you can tell how people live in our culture, as long they're getting what they want, they really do not care. Their priorities are to get everything others don't have or already have, trying to live as happy as possible and to do the right thing. None of those make sense or exist in my life. You make mistakes but you get right back up and keep living. There's no right or wrong way to live in my book but going to the extent to getting someone killed to get what you wanted, is just plain wrong.
You can see that on this day the majority were the middle class, who can be pretty selfish and aggressive people, especially on days there are sales going on in stores. Their lack on intelligence is just unacceptable. To barge into a store, to race one another to get to that one item that's on sale for $20 less is rhetorical. I'm just really disappointed that not even one person who was apart of the stampede of human beings was capable of trying to help the people who were practically getting stomped to death. For example, the pregnant woman of eight months was pretty stupid in going into a crowd like that, to go shopping but besides the point...she was a pregnant woman and not everyone is blind. My point is all those people out there bascially committed a crime, they trampled someone to DEATH and left many injured. They should definitely feel ashamed for acting like animals.
In the article, when it discusses about the Walmart employee who died, "He was such a young man with a good heart, full of life. He didn't deserve that." This saying after someone dies is pretty common and just becuase he was such a "nice" guy doesn't mean he wouldn't have died any time soon...but on the other hand he was a very young man to die at age 34 must be pretty hard to believe and I really feel bad for his family that now has to go through this sorrow and pain. They must feel furious to know the way he died. He literally trampled to death and no one helped until it was too late.
Throughout all of this you can tell how people live in our culture, as long they're getting what they want, they really do not care. Their priorities are to get everything others don't have or already have, trying to live as happy as possible and to do the right thing. None of those make sense or exist in my life. You make mistakes but you get right back up and keep living. There's no right or wrong way to live in my book but going to the extent to getting someone killed to get what you wanted, is just plain wrong.
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