(Written 17th of December, 2002)
- So it's Christmas and? And tons of garbage as a result of this birthday celebration. Sounds great doesn't it? Many families have developed fairly good way of recycling their Christmas present wrappings, by saving them for the next year. Actually this is quite good idea for me too, but the thing I don't like is that there is always somebody yelling and looking that I don't destroy those wrapping. Making comments that please be careful with those, we intend to use them next year also. In a longer run, this is quite irritating. Now that I think of it, why we even bother to wrap our gifts inside of a fancy wrappings? What's the point of all this, especially if you have wished something special and you are almost sure you are going to get it? Then somebody puts this so-called present inside of some cute wrappings and then you open it, looking surprised of course. You couldn't have guessed from the shape of those wrappings what you are going to get?
- More garbage and a few trees less. We all could easily leave our presents without wrappings and it wouldn't be no loss. Well yeah, of course Christmas present wrapping company would probably go down, but at the same time, few trees would still stand. Other option is to wrap your presents inside of a newspapers, like some people I know do. If you haven't subscribed any newspaper, you surely get all those free advertising papers? You can wrap your presents inside of those and finally find something useful to do with that shit they are cramming into your mail box. Could there be any better way of recycling? So we really should get rid of these wrappings. Have you ever noticed how disgusting the garbage bin looks in Christmas day? Everything is pouring from it, be it a little piece of paper with Santa on it or some pieces of ham mixed with something you don't even recognize. If you need to explain the word disposable to somebody, just show some garbage bin on Christmas day morning.
- Another thing is the presents. Is there any point of buying flashing cell phone casing to a person who already have few of them in his shelf? At least the older persons could thing a little bit, before actually starting to buy anything. I cannot expect that my 14 year old little brother thinks about these kind of issues and that's why he goes and buys me another cup with some funny text. Among the five or six cups that I have already received from him, during the last few Christmas, birthdays etc. So this is how a teenager acts, but what's really alarming is that some older people seem to have stuck into this kind of behavior. I just don't understand you people? You would think that the older you get, the more sense you have in your heads. I guess the old saying doesn't apply here. In addition of all this junk, you really could by something that will last a while and that will bring at least some joy, something that the receiver perhaps will even remember after few days? I myself prefer to give books and CD's as a present. They last quite a long time and they are something you can read or listen again, even after many years. They don't loose their value so quickly as some plastic cell phone casing, that will break almost immediately you take it out from their package. Yes I know, you need to have a cell phone casing for every day of the week, so let's drop this subject.
- I'm really shamed to admit that as a child, I belonged also to this junk buying group of people. The more strange looking and obscure the present was, the better. Particularly I remember one candlestick I think I gave as a present to my grandmother. I didn't even know where you were suppose to put the candle, but at least it looked strange and nice at the same time. But strange and obscure isn't the key words here. Key word or a sentence is that who the fuck needs another candlestick? And don't come and tell me that you don't have enough of those.
- Well of course child cannot understand this thing so well and why should he? He or she has grown in the middle of product mountain, mountain made of toys, video games, clothes that everybody else has. In the middle of a mountain made of disposable plates, forks, knives and cups. How can you expect that he or she understands this kind of thing that I'm talking about, when their parents act in a same way, showing them some good old disposable culture?
- Of course everybody these days is repeating the old mantra, mantra that has gotten so popular now. A real modern day slogan. "Oh this Christmas is so commercial and such a waste. There is just way too many things in shops that you really don't need. Oh I'm so stressed..." This slogan will make you look so intelligent, smart and up to date person. I just really would like to see into your Christmas present bag. Do I find there a real useful and plastic ornament, from which nobody can't tell what it's suppose to be? Or do I find there an utterly useless shoes, that you have bought for somebody who's old shoes are almost in a condition that the bottom is falling off?
- In any case, I wish you happy Christmas, now and during the following years!
