Ex Xmas: a lot has soured the festive season
IKNOW that it’s pointless and frustrating to reminisce on the ‘good old days’, especially when they are gone forever. When I was a child, Christmas seemed to take a decade to arrive, but now, an entire year literally feels like about four months. Consequently, the wait for Christmas and the anticipation of its arrival have been significantly diminished.
Nowadays, its rapid arrival erodes some of what made it so very special. And, the warp-like passage of time mocks our efforts at progress/selfimprovement. We often find ourselves in the very same financial position that we were in one whole year ago and, to add insult to injury, Christmas brings with it a hefty price tag.
Because of global warming, the seasonal temperature changes that we used to experience here in the tropics are much milder. I recall Christmases being chilly, and the air was crisp and clean. December is still cooler than the summer months, but not by that much. Aside from global warming changes, we here in Jamaica have committed many serious environmental sins. We are being, and will be, damned for what we have done, are doing, and will continue to do to the environment.
POLLUTION AND DEFORESTATION
We pollute and wantonly deforest in the name of progress. We erect housing solutions, commercial buildings and highways with a minimum of environmental consideration and leeway. We have reduced or eradicated green spaces in favour of squeezing every last dollar out of every inch of land. Some rapacious developers construct crowded housing communities, ignore building regulations and build on or sell off green spaces. The albedo effect warms up our cities and communities by several degrees and, at this rate, we won’t have any ‘country areas’ remaining to run to for refuge.
The ‘heat’ that we experience is not confined to temperature. We are rapidly and, apparently inexorably, becoming a nation of hotheads. Religion and spirituality are now minimal, almost perfunctory exercises for a minority. Consequently, our aggression towards our brothers and sisters is best observed on our roads.
The other day I was driving in a line of traffic travelling north, near to Cross Roads, on Old Hope Road. A taxi man exited a shopping plaza on the left and, although the southbound lane was bumper-to-bumper traffic, he came out anyway and decided to form his own lane going south.
The driver immediately in front of me managed to squeeze left of him and, since I had no intension of obstructing his illegal lane intrusion, I carefully looked to my left before hugging the kerb in order for him to continue. There was no emergency, I was not in his way for more than a fraction of a second, but, as he passed me, he clearly instructed that I should perform a vacuum procedure on my maternal parent. I’ve seen taxi men cuss out innocent drivers in like manner just because law-abiding drivers can’t get out of their way fast enough.
RARE HAPPENING
Our crime and murder rates are also sources of ‘heat’ in our society. We used to go throughout the community carolling, but that’s almost as rare as hen’s teeth nowadays; people are (rightfully) scared of the criminals with guns out there. Christmas celebrations used to include the ‘shibum’, clappers (squibs) and thunderbolt, but, because they sound like gunfire and may confuse the security forces, they have been banned.
The other day I asked a heavyset youngster if he played games. He gave out a resounding “Yes!” I asked what games and then he reeled off a long list of video games. His father laughed so hard that he choked.
Mundanity, commercialisation, heat, aggression, fear, seclusion and couch games have soured the festive season. I miss the good old days.