Friday, November 25, 2005
Greedy Christmas
The people of Australia are so wealthy that retailers spend large amounts of money printing brochures and catalogs for regular distribution into our letterboxes in hope of enticing us to spend a little of our wealth with them.
People in countries where Christianity is not commonly practised probably believe that Christmas is celebrated on December 25 each year and that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of the founder of the Christian religion. But I can't remember anywhere in any of the Christian teachings where Jesus encouraged his followers to teach their children to practise greed. However that is what Christmas has come to stand for in most Western cultures. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, adults commonly ask kids, 'What do you want for Christmas?' And if the brochures in our letterboxes are any indication, the celebration of Christmas started some time ago this year.
One such brochure recently promoted a toy robot, that actually works—though I'm not sure what it does, for $300. Is this what it takes to make an Australian child happy? For a child in Cambodia or Laos, $A300 would probably feed them for a year.
People in countries where Christianity is not commonly practised probably believe that Christmas is celebrated on December 25 each year and that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of the founder of the Christian religion. But I can't remember anywhere in any of the Christian teachings where Jesus encouraged his followers to teach their children to practise greed. However that is what Christmas has come to stand for in most Western cultures. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, adults commonly ask kids, 'What do you want for Christmas?' And if the brochures in our letterboxes are any indication, the celebration of Christmas started some time ago this year.
One such brochure recently promoted a toy robot, that actually works—though I'm not sure what it does, for $300. Is this what it takes to make an Australian child happy? For a child in Cambodia or Laos, $A300 would probably feed them for a year.
