Holiday Spirit - Is There Hope?

"November 28, 2008 - NEW YORK - Police said about 2,000 people were gathered outside the Wal-Mart doors before its 5 a.m. opening. The impatient crowd knocked the employee to the ground as he opened the doors and trampled him to death. Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers stepped over him and became irate when officials said the store was closing because of the death, police and witnesses said."

Is this what we have become as a society? Monsters who succumb to the call of retail savings? We can rationalize stepping on an injured man in order to save a few dollars on a video game for our spoiled children?

It is depressing to read these types of stories.

I love Christmas and the Holiday Season. I really do. However, I find American society's adoption of the holiday more depressing and confusing each year. Inflatable yard displays with flashing lights and blaring music. Umm... yeah. Happy Holidays.

Even if you do not lead a Christian spiritual life that calls you to honor the birth of Christ, holiday spirit is so much more than boosting the earnings of retailers who hawk cheap, useless gifts that clutter our lives, our minds and our homes.

Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali, Dong zhi, whatever the holiday; they all call us to serve each other. To do good deeds that enrich our lives. To make someone's life better. To make a sacrifice for the benefit of another person.

My wish to you is that you find true holiday spirit in your life. That we can become a society who honors and respects life, instead of trampling it on the threshold of Wal-Mart.