Steve GannTurn Left at Avalon - Christmas Choices
December 24th 2006 21:01
Maybe There Are Other Choices?
Maybe there are other choices, but maybe we don't listen enough to what they are. I know what I want fro Christmas. I want a happy, smiling producer who has just read one of my scripts and is dying to pay me a more that reasonable sum of money to buy the rights. Well yes I would like to direct as well, but we mustn't be too greedy, must we?
Let's have a look at that concept for a minute though. What do I WANT for Christmas? Is there something just a little bit out of kilter with the whole idea of wanting something, of wanting more, for Christmas? Gift giving was originally based on the idea of small gifts being exchanged as a sharing of the spirit of Christmas. Then things got out of hand. From a Partridge in a Pear Tree, to Seven Maids a' Milling and Nine Ladies Dancing. Imagine for a minute what would happen if we stopped with enormous gifts at Christmas and went back to small bon-bons or sweets or some such. Put it in your mind's eye for a minute. All those children - and adults too - chocked with disappointment. No more status presents like a new kitchen or a Porsche in the garage.
But hang on a minute, the shop keepers would suffer. The toy manufacturers too. The whole economy would take a beating. It would be like going back to the stone age.
But what about others in the third world who live on the poverty line? What of the coffee and tea pickers who are paid dirt wages so that our early morning heart starters stay at a reasonable price? What of those in Ethiopia, the middle East, in Africa - who suffer from the impact of incompetent government, from slavers and war lords? What of Iraq and Iran? What of Darfur in Sudan with the increasing blindness of children, the refugee camps and the growing dead?
"The stories that I heard from Darfur will haunt me for a long time.” Fiona Callister.
In Afghanistan and remote areas of Pakistan, rebel groups and war lords still ply their trade. Why? Because nothing has been done to alter the reality of the local situation.
Ask yourself this: If half the money spent on war by our nation and the US was spent on demolishing trade barriers for small nations and building their economy, would it do any good?
Emphatically the answer would be yes. Perhaps the question should not be: What do we want for Christmas? Perhaps the question should be: What are we willing to give up, not just for Christmas, but for always? If our brothers are hurting, what are we willing to sacrifice so that they can live in greater comfort. Or so that they can live at all!
Maybe there are other choices, but maybe we don't listen enough to what they are. I know what I want fro Christmas. I want a happy, smiling producer who has just read one of my scripts and is dying to pay me a more that reasonable sum of money to buy the rights. Well yes I would like to direct as well, but we mustn't be too greedy, must we?
Let's have a look at that concept for a minute though. What do I WANT for Christmas? Is there something just a little bit out of kilter with the whole idea of wanting something, of wanting more, for Christmas? Gift giving was originally based on the idea of small gifts being exchanged as a sharing of the spirit of Christmas. Then things got out of hand. From a Partridge in a Pear Tree, to Seven Maids a' Milling and Nine Ladies Dancing. Imagine for a minute what would happen if we stopped with enormous gifts at Christmas and went back to small bon-bons or sweets or some such. Put it in your mind's eye for a minute. All those children - and adults too - chocked with disappointment. No more status presents like a new kitchen or a Porsche in the garage.
But hang on a minute, the shop keepers would suffer. The toy manufacturers too. The whole economy would take a beating. It would be like going back to the stone age.
But what about others in the third world who live on the poverty line? What of the coffee and tea pickers who are paid dirt wages so that our early morning heart starters stay at a reasonable price? What of those in Ethiopia, the middle East, in Africa - who suffer from the impact of incompetent government, from slavers and war lords? What of Iraq and Iran? What of Darfur in Sudan with the increasing blindness of children, the refugee camps and the growing dead?
"The stories that I heard from Darfur will haunt me for a long time.” Fiona Callister.
In Afghanistan and remote areas of Pakistan, rebel groups and war lords still ply their trade. Why? Because nothing has been done to alter the reality of the local situation.
Ask yourself this: If half the money spent on war by our nation and the US was spent on demolishing trade barriers for small nations and building their economy, would it do any good?
Emphatically the answer would be yes. Perhaps the question should not be: What do we want for Christmas? Perhaps the question should be: What are we willing to give up, not just for Christmas, but for always? If our brothers are hurting, what are we willing to sacrifice so that they can live in greater comfort. Or so that they can live at all!
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