This time of year always gets me down a little bit. There is so much planning and scurrying around--and the actual 'holiday' is over in a blink. The most important meaning-spending time with loved ones and friends-seems to take a back seat to the shopping and drinking and overeating, I have observed. It may be my perspective, but over the years all of the preparations and expenditures have become the focus of attention, especially because our economy gets an end of year boost with all of the consumerism that happens in this season. It is still the thought that counts, isn't it?

Having removed myself from the conspicuous consumption treadmill some time ago, I tend to view the displays during the entire holiday season as a little garish and overdone. I can't help wondering why anyone would wish to spend a year's energy budget in just one month to light the OUTSIDE of their home.. not to mention the waste of resources, when in Denver alone there are 10,000 homeless and many more with barely a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. Magnify that to include the homeless and hungry around the planet. Shocking and terrible. That is why we choose not to think about them. How luxurious to just be able to snuggle in our soft beds and shut the real world's agony out of our lives.

The concentration on non-functional items as gifts is another puzzle. I like sparkly things just as much or maybe even more than some, but there needs to be a context for purchases of luxury items - it is so easy in our instant gratification society to be swayed by advertising and the availability of credit - some level of practicality should be applied before the decision to blow three months' salary on items so clearly 'icing' instead of 'cake'. The sham is going to be over soon, however. Economists have been speaking the doom and gloom for 2007 for a few months now, so that means we have been in trouble for a while, but every stock trader has been trying to squeeze the last possible dollar of profit out before the end.

In this season, which espouses to be that of peace on earth and good-will toward men, there is an endless supply of Hollywood's vision: cozy fires, feasts at table, glittering lights and mountains of prettily wrapped gifts in warm and secure surroundings - the American dream? Not for all.. Even in our own country there are tremendous disparities between what wants and needs are, and how many families can really attain the artificial level of comforts which set the benchmark of having 'made it'.

In other parts of the world our waste and selfishness as a culture is seen as a disgusting display of abuse of power and recklessness with our natural resources. There is a disconnect between how we Americans see ourselves and how we see all other peoples-as well as how they view us... we have advertised ourselves as the epitome of achievement in every way. We have drunk the kool-aid and believe our own myth. Yes, we have more of just about everything, but that includes ego and pride, and to others in the world, we appear to have exalted ourselves above all other humans.

It is necessary for us to come back to an existence more in line with reality if we are to work in concert with the rest of the world to solve global problems. It has been a great error in judgment by leaders in this country-not just government leaders, but those in business and education, too-to present the world as 'our' oyster, and not belonging to all nations equally. The idea that we can overcome anything because we have gathered monetary wealth has a faulty premise: that the world's wealth belongs to US as the "world's only superpower".

Wealth exists in many forms and across all arbitrary boundaries. Of all the nations in the world, we are perhaps the least wealthy in understanding our place within it, and as a result also the least wealthy in it’s good will toward us, though that is not what the news commentators say. As long as we believe blindly, we will act blindly, and we are very near the proverbial cliff's edge. Some would even say we have already gone over it but haven't acknowledged it yet.

For this and all succeeding seasons, it is my fervent wish that we as a nation can pull ourselves back from that cliff and make the world a better place for everyone; so all may share in the wealth of the earth and protect our precious resources. When we recognize that every mother on earth mourns the loss of her child to needless wars, starvation and disease, and every father yearns to provide a safe and peaceful place for his family we may begin to appreciate what we have. Every compassionate thought and action on the world's behalf will bring true peace and good-will to us as well as the receivers.