Wednesday, December 06, 2006

I love Christmas, but I hate "X-ma$."

I don't really have the big issue a lot of people do with the X itself. I mean, X is one of those Greek letters - chi - that has been used as a symbol meaning "Christ." X can symbolize Christ's death on the cross. What I oppose is the cutting Christ out of Christmas, and I don't mean just the word.

This morning I didn't have to work early. I thought, cool, the Wii is coming out at Wal-Mart, & I can go up there. So I left the house at 4:45 a.m. ! and went to the lovely House of Sam. I went to electronics. I mean, video games are in electronics, right? I didn't see too many employees. The announcement had been "they'll be sold starting at 8 a.m." so I thought asking someone in the store would be, well, a waste of time. Fooled me.

I walked around for 30 minutes & didn't see anyone standing or sitting around waiting. So, I left, went to Starbucks, & came back. I walked around another 20 minutes, then had to go to the bathroom.

There it was - a line of people waiting for the Wii. "There are only 24," the lady in the last chair said, "and I'm just here in case someone's credit card doesn't work."

I sat down in the floor, and I got irritable just thinking about it. The lady next to me, the one in the last chair, said, "That man in the front of the line is selling his."

"I wouldn't buy one from him if it's the last one on earth," I responded. "I hope nobody buys it from him."

Well, the longer I sat there, and the more I heard people saying "There aren't but 24," and "He's gonna sell his for $800," the madder I got. I mean, there weren't any SIGNS in the store pointing to where you wait for Wiis. I thought ELECTRONICS was where you'd wait...& I blindly and mistakenly thought I was the only one there looking for the God-forsaken thing.

I have been looking for an excuse to boycott Walmart. I have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars there over the years. And there I was, having wasted 90 minutes already plus the money I spent on breakfast & coffee, & I'd have to wait 90 minutes to see if I even had a chance. I decided to go home & give Derek the money for Christmas instead. He's not happy, but he understands.

What is this world coming to? It is full of greed and evil, I tell you. I was so incensed. I thought, you know, I thought this was God giving me my chance to get that game he's been wanting. Instead, it's resulted in my just getting angry at the whole system: at Nintendo for their twisted idea of releasing a few systems at a time, at Walmart for not making it more clear where they would be distributing the games, and at people like the jerk at the front of the line who had no intention of giving that game system to anyone - just selling it for a profit. I am no communist, and I don't necessarily disagree with capitalism but there is a point where unchecked greed becomes too much.

There was a time when I might've paid more than something was worth just to get it and put it under the tree "from Santa." But not anymore. I wouldn't have paid $500 more than something was worth, though. Yes, people like that guy are gonna make a killing off other people who are trying to keep the myth alive. Thank you, Lord, that my kids are old enough to know better.

And I know my anger isn't really in the spirit of Christmas. Maybe it's righteous anger. (Maybe it's self-righteous anger. :)) I know one thing. The whole experience made me so much more inspired to celebrate the REAL MEANING OF CHRISTMAS.

No comments: