Mirador Miramonte High School

     December 5, 2005

Holiday Column  by Casey Capachi As I eyed the Black Angus menu debating between the mashed potatoes or the potato soup, my hand held my throbbing jaw where my wisdom had been 48 hours ago. Jealously, I looked around at the old couples enjoying obscenely huge turkeys, succulent steaks and crisp pieces of bread. I finally settled for the mashed potatoes. Seeing myself void of the best part of the holiday as far as I’m concerned; food, I sunk into the booth seat and sulked. But then it hit me, as cliché as it sounds. Thanksgiving isn’t about how you spend it, it’s about who you spend it with. It’s about laughing at bad jokes your father cracks, pretending you like the food, or agreeing to switch tables when your mother notices a woman is coughing for longer than five seconds. It’s all part of the holiday. You have to learn to accept that otherwise you’ll get caught up in this dream where you have 20 family members instead of three and you’re in a perfect world instead of at the Black Angus. I have learned to take the Holidays for what they are now: a joke. But they weren’t always. In the past, children counted down the days until Christmas, Hanukkah and other holidays. But now, in our instant-gratification society, children are able to get what they want when they want it. Although presents are certainly not what Christmas and Hanukah are meant to be about, let’s face it: to children, and teenagers like myself; they are. And to the masses who flock to stores the day after Thanksgiving. What is happening in America? It is apparent that something is wrong when people are camping out overnight just to be first in line at Macy’s to buy…something they don’t need. It’s crazy when you see the insanity at department stores on the news; women and children being shoved to the ground by full-grown men, people taking other people’s items, and the police not even able to calm the masses. Honestly, while some people in the world are worried about their next meal, we are getting violent over who gets the last iPod in the store. It’s times like these when you have to wonder: what are the holidays really about? Let’s take Christmas. In a study taken by yours truly on my street, there were 100% more Santa Clause and reindeer decorations than Jesus Christ ones. What does this tell us about our focus on holidays meant to reflect on family and faith? It is almost non- existent. The true Holidays spirit is dying. And a new one, created by commercialism is rising. But there is a way that we can stop it. Throughout the year, talk to family on the phone who you see only during the Holidays, be nice to people who you’re only nice to during the Holidays, and for goodness sake’s do not shove strangers as you attempt to shop for loved ones. There are quieter ways to show family members you love them without such showy Holiday spirit.