So it’s been almost two months that we are exposed to massive pre-Christmas agony. I’m happy it will be over very soon because honestly, I cannot stand it anymore. I know this entry is completely irrelevant and also very stupid, but I am sure my brain is going to be severely affected by this state of things: not necessarily today or the day after, but in five or ten years’ time I feel I’ll start noticing all the after effects and if I’ll have the strength to, I’ll definitely freak out.
Two months of light bathing in festive illuminations; two months of encounters with gingerbread men – often with a broken leg or two – ; two months of gay music harassing my Eustachian tubes. I lost count of how many times I had to listen to Wham!’s Last Christmas and Band Aid’s Do they know it’s Christmas… Jeez, in the eighties these songs were already madness-inducing, and the eighties are infamous for being one of the worst periods ever in the history of music… Why are we accepting all this with such inexpressive gleeful faces? Why doesn’t anybody feel the urge to thrash everything in shops when the speakers start broadcasting their brainwashing tunes directly into our ears? Personally, I don’t feel happier or in a better mood, let alone more righteous. Instead, I feel alienated and stressed out. And also out of place, realizing I’m out of sync because I don’t feel happier and in a better mood and I can’t effortlessly pretend I am more righteous than during the rest of the year.
Perhaps my nostalgia is fake, I won’t deny it, but I remember the days when Christmas was special especially for its ephemeral nature. Here today and gone tomorrow. It was special because the climax lasted a few days only and it felt like it truly meant something. You had material desires to fulfill and they acquired an extraordinary depth also because you were given the chance to fulfill them after so much longing they had almost become metaphysical in the meantime. Christmas atmosphere was unique because you didn’t have the time to get accustomed to it; the illuminations were not supposed to burn your pupils for sixty days without interruptions; all the food and specialties were not crowding the shelves of any single damned store till you couldn’t tell the difference with regular items anymore. Now you have every year a good two months of pre-Christmas training before the actual festivities, and by the time you get there all the good intentions and dispositions are gone. Also, by December 24, your sense of sight and hearing and taste are gone as well.
I don’t want to imply you have to be spiritual to find transcendental messages in Christmas, although maybe a little genuine spirituality is definitely going to boost your festive perception; I only know all these exaggerations are going to lead us nowhere: we are no richer and merrier, we are on the contrary more impoverished and dissatisfied than ever. In just a few more years we’ll be celebrating Christmas all year round, and like Romans in their years of decadence we’ll be so dumb and empty and nauseated inside that we won’t be able to tell the difference anymore.
Btw. the google ads on your page just show me the way to … i guess you know what … “free christmas songs”, “christmas decoration – now 70% off” and “Algarve christmas break now!” =)
Unfortunately, you don’t have power over google ads. In a perfect world you’d be able to choose which ads will be shown, but in our world this is not the case =/
Hope you had a nice Christmas, Torsten =)
Thanks, my christmas was perfect. since i ignored it.
Well, good for you!