The Christmas season, in Europe and the Americas at least, has always been a special time for expressions of human kindness: Donating to local food banks, distributing gift baskets containing ingredients for a healthy Christmas dinner and children’s toys to families in need, collecting clothing for homeless shelters, and so on.
The unfortunate reality of this particular season is that, once it has passed, so have those “warm and fuzzy” feelings for one’s fellow human beings. After Christians have returned to their daily routines, most have forgotten that their poorer bretheren’s needs for food and other basic necessities remain.
Why is that?
My guess is that the season’s traditional catchphrase that “it is better to give than to receive” moves us to want to share our good fortune with strangers, but when the New Year has arrived our generosity has dried up and our focus returns to our own needs.
I suspect that we think, within the paradigm of money, that there is only so much that we can give away until we begin to run short on supplies and run the risk of not affording to replace them.
What if, within the framework of a money-less paradigm, goods were freely available to all of us? What if we all experienced a “season of plenty” regardless of the season?
If that were the case, then we could all deck our halls with more than just boughs of holly!
