Chirstmas Mistake
The after Chirstmas rush has certainly started with a bang where at Norstroms a female employee was shot by her former boyfriend only to turn the trigger on himself. The woman is in critical condition and the male is dead. Norstroms decided to close the store for the day sighting that it's employees need time to grieve and to get over the shock of this incident. The news lady stated that It was Norstroms thinkng about people before profits. I have to agree. I think it would have looked terrible on the part of the store to stay open and expect their employees to work productively after such a horrific ordeal.
This situation reminds me of the terrible stress that the holidays bring on to us and how much is going on out there in the same vain that we don't know about. People feeling helpless because they can't afford to buy their chidren a toy for Chirstmas or because they feel lonely and alone. Some taking desperate measures like this man did at Norstroms who shot his former girlfriend. I think partially because it is the holidays and he would be without her, not that this justifies what he did, because there is nothing to justify attempting to kill a person. What we must remember is that there is a lot of anxiety and depression this time of year. It is not all about the twinkling lights only. There are people who truly need help and I think we tend to ignore that aspect of the holidays a phenomenon that occurs every single year when people jump in front of trains and feel like their life is not worth anything if they cannot be a part of the commercially pushed holiday season where the right gift is more meaningful than the spirituality of Christmas.
For these reasons and more we must make Christmas about family, friends and the joy of the holiday, placing more importance on being alive and having a plate of food on our table. We must emphasize to our children that they are good enough even if they are not returning to school with a pair of Jordan gym shoes after the new year. There has to be more to Christmas than having someone with you or being paired up with a girlfriend or boyfriend. What matters this holiday season is that we are alive and that we have at least one entity who loves us: God. Nothing else should matter. Not a shiny toy or a fur coat or a diamond ring. What matters most this holiday is that we have food on the table and people to communicate love to. It should not matter that we don't have money or credit cards to spend on gifts and get into debt.
The holidays are a beautiful time as well and although things happen that are not quite aligned to what spirit would want for us they are signs of the work we must do in our lives. They are signs of what should be our priority and our focus and they are signs of the pressure we have to breathe through. Signs that we must be in gratitude for what we have and see how fortunate we are to have a life, to have this day to share with others. Signs that we are to laught and sing rather than look at the fact that we did not get this or that item. That incident at Norstroms is unfortunate and the fact remains that there are many more of those incidents all around the world. It is how strongly we have instilled that the holidays are about buying stuff and about being coupled with someone. It is a strong message we are getting about maxing our credit so we can appear to be doing well. It is a sign that our egos are more importantt than where are heart resides. It is a sign that we are an injurred people that need healing around this idea that Christmas is a shiny ring rather than a shiny loving attitude.
This situation reminds me of the terrible stress that the holidays bring on to us and how much is going on out there in the same vain that we don't know about. People feeling helpless because they can't afford to buy their chidren a toy for Chirstmas or because they feel lonely and alone. Some taking desperate measures like this man did at Norstroms who shot his former girlfriend. I think partially because it is the holidays and he would be without her, not that this justifies what he did, because there is nothing to justify attempting to kill a person. What we must remember is that there is a lot of anxiety and depression this time of year. It is not all about the twinkling lights only. There are people who truly need help and I think we tend to ignore that aspect of the holidays a phenomenon that occurs every single year when people jump in front of trains and feel like their life is not worth anything if they cannot be a part of the commercially pushed holiday season where the right gift is more meaningful than the spirituality of Christmas.
For these reasons and more we must make Christmas about family, friends and the joy of the holiday, placing more importance on being alive and having a plate of food on our table. We must emphasize to our children that they are good enough even if they are not returning to school with a pair of Jordan gym shoes after the new year. There has to be more to Christmas than having someone with you or being paired up with a girlfriend or boyfriend. What matters this holiday season is that we are alive and that we have at least one entity who loves us: God. Nothing else should matter. Not a shiny toy or a fur coat or a diamond ring. What matters most this holiday is that we have food on the table and people to communicate love to. It should not matter that we don't have money or credit cards to spend on gifts and get into debt.
The holidays are a beautiful time as well and although things happen that are not quite aligned to what spirit would want for us they are signs of the work we must do in our lives. They are signs of what should be our priority and our focus and they are signs of the pressure we have to breathe through. Signs that we must be in gratitude for what we have and see how fortunate we are to have a life, to have this day to share with others. Signs that we are to laught and sing rather than look at the fact that we did not get this or that item. That incident at Norstroms is unfortunate and the fact remains that there are many more of those incidents all around the world. It is how strongly we have instilled that the holidays are about buying stuff and about being coupled with someone. It is a strong message we are getting about maxing our credit so we can appear to be doing well. It is a sign that our egos are more importantt than where are heart resides. It is a sign that we are an injurred people that need healing around this idea that Christmas is a shiny ring rather than a shiny loving attitude.
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