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Rants >> Rant 325

::Today's soundtrack: The Cure "A Letter to Elise" ::


[I want to apologize in advance for the lackluster-ness of this rant. Due to sudden snowfall where I live, I kept on getting power fluctuations and losing progress due to not saving frequently enough. I had some pretty good stuff in there but then my power went out for just long enough for it to be lost, and of course now I cannot remember it right. Ah well. C'est la vie.]

With the recent passage of the American Thanksgiving Day, it is now officially The Holiday Season. I don't know what it is about the holidays, but there is something in the air that gives a lot of people an attack of the crazies. In many ways it is worse than the purported effects of the full moon, mostly, for one, because it lasts for a bout a month rather than a couple of days.

The whole Thanksgiving through to New Year's Day period just does something to people on an emotional level. The "I don't have anyone to kiss on New Year's!" or "I don't want to spend another X-mas alone!" starts coming out of people. For some reason, being alone the rest of the year is okay, not great but okay, but now that it's X-mas suddenly being alone is horrifying. The frightening thing is the extent to which people will go in order to NOT be alone over the holidays.  How many people fake illnesses or something in order to go to the hospital simply to not be alone? Quite a few, actually, and it's rather disturbing.

There can also be some spikes in negative behaviour, too. Know any divorced parents? Suddenly it's a tug o' war on who gets to have the kids for the holidays. Real nice way to put the kids first by fighting over them like that. And how many people drink booze a whole lot more or overeat? So many people get a weird holiday depression where they drink, eat, and overspend. What are they trying to forget and why is it so important that they forget it NOW when they've been living with it for a while yet?

Another side of the holiday craziness is that people are suddenly riddled with a mysterious guilt. This is when people start volunteering at homeless shelters in droves and sending money to charities they didn't give a damn about the rest of the year, but gosh-dern-it it's X-mas, the season of giving (I have previously and will continue to argue the validity of a "season" of giving in that ANY time is a good time to give not just X-mas). You know, X-mas is when everyone volunteers and shelters and soup kitchens have no idea what to do with you all, so why not help out in JUNE when they are understaffed?? Nope, nobody feels like volunteering until that holiday guilt starts poking at them.

People get that extra helping of stress during this time of year, too. They HAVE to find that gift, or the big family dinner NEEDS to be perfect. So many fight crowds of other people just to get the right toy for their kid. Do they work themselves up this much for birthday presents? Why don't they fret over dinner everyday being perfect? There's just something about those holiday gifts and meals that make people get crazy over them which causes undo worry.

Why does The Holiday Season make so many of us go insane? I'm starting to think it would be a good idea to slip people a sedative or antidepressant just for the end of the year holidays. Merry X-mas, here's your Ativan! Happy Hanukkah, here's your Haldol! Just feel those unnecessary problems and seasonal craziness melt away... Mmmmm Methadone...

William the Bloody (holiday harshness)