Let's get started!

Well, by now some of you are beginning to wonder “Is she ever going to fulminate?” “What is this fulmination anyway, and how can it be fruitful?”

Well, I'll start gradually. The whole fulmination thing is kinda something we started at work ... to be alliterative and to make a joke of my occasional soapboxing/rants. Now, I must admit, I have not always fulminated fruitfully, but there is a time and a place for that, and that's what this blog is for. If you have an “issue” with something and you think it would be good to bring it to others’ attention, this is the place. Let’s just keep it nice and, well, fruitful/helpful.

I'll start with the whole narcissism thing. Advertisers have certainly picked up on it. And I think it might be something we need to be wary of come Christmas-shopping time. The most inane things are subjected to indulge our self-love. Even a TimeWarner van slogan illustrates this nicely: “TimeWarner Cable: The Power of You.”

I saw the van and had to look again--what the heck are they talking about?? What does the cable have to do with me? I plug it in and receive service. Oh, I know, the argument that this very blog is TimeWarner empowering me. Well, whatever. I pay for it and I use it--hopefully to do good. :)

Now, here's where this fits in with your Christmas shopping. Some things are blatantly narcissistic (such as Bratz) and others are more subtly so. The advertisements are what really gets me--they're on childrens' channels and targeted at them. Take, for example, Barbie. A “Shopping Barbie” commercial has Barbie looking at shoes. Barbie says something like “Oh, pretty shoes” (not “boy, do I need shoes--mine are falling apart” ;)) and a chorus in the background sings “Buy it, buy it, buy it!” to which Barbie says, “they're only $75” or some other ridiculous price--at least for girls’ shoes. ONLY $75? Then the girls holding the dolls say, “And you never run out of money” after using a charge card. Wow--lots to fulminate about there, eh?

Well, I could go on and on (you know I can), but my take-home lesson is this: whether in what you buy or what you let your kids watch (even commercials) this Christmas season, seize the opportunity to point out to your child how this sort of mindset is unrealistic at best, unChristian at worst. You won't have to look hard for these opportunities. Perhaps, may I suggest, if you are making out your Christmas list or having your children do so, divide it into "practical wants," "needs," and "indulgences," perhaps with dollar amounts, and then be sure to look at your charitable giving as well--perhaps right alongside. Maybe this will help us focus on what it means to be reasonable and content, yet generous with others.

Call me old-fashioned, but I still kinda liked Christmas the old way . . . where you got a few modest gifts--some things you never really necessarily wanted or needed, but they were things that the person who bought them for you thought you would like nonetheless. Let's bring some sanity back. Your thoughts?