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| The author/publisher, Dane F. Baylis |
DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN
OR
YOU BASTARDS ARE ALL STILL HERE?
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There should be another way to look at it, but there isn't. A week in a mountain resort before the season kicks off, without crowds, able to pretty much have the the place all to yourself, is about as good as it gets. Then comes the day you turn the whole thing back around and re-immerse in a major urban area with its constant traffic jams, lines waiting for near nothing, rampant stupidity, and the impression of bearing the crush of the bulk of humanity on your back, and the bubble bursts pretty damned fast.
Throw the meaningless hustle of the "holiday season" into the mix, with all the consumer hype, the religious zealotry[most of which is delivered by right wing commentators on one television station in particular (more the reason I don't turn the damned thing on that much)], combined with the dip shit debate over what the "real" meaning of the whole thing is, and you start wondering if there's someplace exotic, like Helsinki, Vladivostok, or Tierra del Fuego, that you wouldn't rather be!
How about we throw out the baby in the manger with the bath water, put away the credit cards, turn off the idiotic lighting displays that can practically be seen from the International Space Station, not watch "Miracle on 34th Street" or "It's a Wonderful Life" for the hundredth time, and just sit down to a warm, welcoming evening at a dining room table with our friends? Feel the need to give a present? Great! But keep it sane, and by that I mean something that doesn't require making payments until next "Holiday Season".
Oh, while I'm at it, how many of you are working on the holiday? Is it because you just can't stand being around your family for a whole day? Truth is you're probably just like the rest of the world and think that somehow it will all work out just fine this year, aren't you? I'll bet your dragging your ass into the shop because the over reaching corporate pricks that employ you can't bring themselves to let go of one day's profit, huh? Makes you wish there was more teeth in Dickens' little Christmas fairy tale, doesn't it?
But hell, I'm just another malcontent with a keyboard who remembers when stores were closed on Sundays. When Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's were days to gather with friends and family and celebrate being able to celebrate just that, gathering. Whether it meant a punch up on the sidewalk out front or not. When every damned national day off wasn't viewed as an excuse for another lame sale. When people actually valued having enough over getting more! Then again, a couple of my fondest holiday memories happened in my favorite bar among a few close strangers. Go figure.
Don't worry, I'll get over it. It always takes me a couple of days to stop being quite so aware of the mooing herd and just get on with things. But I always manage it. Happy holidays to ya.
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Meanwhile...live, love, write.
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