What Is The Meaning Of Christmas? (Or Is There One?)

Christmas time is almost here. (Imagine my exuberance.)
The original, religiously-based meaning of the day (the birth of the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah, who would bring all mankind to salvation) has been watered down so much by our secular society that it’s almost gone. Mostly, in today’s world, it’s the culmination of a three-to-four-week feeding frenzy of consumer insanity, greed, violence, inhumane behavior to animals as well as to fellow humans, apathy, grinding poverty, depression, suicidal thoughts and actions, anger, and other “negative” aspects.
All told, this has never been my favorite time of year, for reasons I’ve expressed elsewhere and elsewhen. Celebration has never been my strong suit.
Can someone tell me what about the end of the year – call it solstice, Yule, Saturnalia, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or whatever else – is good? Because, maybe because of my own lack of vision, I just don’t see it.
What would happen if there were none of the holidays at the end of the calendar year? Or, for that matter, what would happen if there were no holidays at all? No Independence Day… no Easter… no New Year’s Day… no Labor Day… no Memorial Day… no Halloween. How would stores survive? How would we keep commerce going when every day is like every other day?
Stores would have no emotional “hooks” to try and get you in and spend your money. What would happen then?
Would the feeding frenzy fade… or would it escalate to a constant, high level?
It may be an interesting experiment… but, personally, I’d rather just keep it on the Einsteinean “thought experiment” level. Things have changed enough in the last fifty years without this sort of tinkering.
Besides… could you trust the government, or the heads of major corporations, to implement this sort of policy in a manner that would be fair, equitable, and beneficial?
I didn’t think so.
So ponder… but don’t act unless you’re as sure as you can be that it’s an action that will promote the general welfare, and not just line somebody’s pocket even more.
To misquote Dickens, “God help us… every one!”