Reject the hype this holiday season

IT’S THAT time of year when several events prompt us to be cheerful, thankful, happy, giving, to spend lots of money, and hum along. We are prompted with displays, lights, TV programming, food, special sales and blow-up characters for our yards that show we are, in fact, celebrating something cultural, religious or American, and we are doing it like a good American.

From Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, I count 31 days of remembrance, aka “holidays” that are memorialized by either attendance at church, temple, or synagogue or at parties with family and friends.

In addition, November is National American-Indian and AlaskaNative Heritage Month as well as Latin American Month, and December marks winter solstice as well as International Human Rights Day, which is on Dec. 10. International Human Rights Day was established in 1948 by the United Nations to commemorate the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The United Nations promotes universal ideals of human dignity, among other shared interests around the globe. It’s a big deal that we know they exist. If I had my way, I would ensure every child in America had grown up learning about the United Nations and had also been taught the articles of the Declaration of Human Rights, just as easily as they were taught the Pledge of Allegiance or the tune to “Happy Birthday.”

Somehow, I’m in no mood to celebrate much. This “holiday season” I’m rejecting the hype, the window dressing and the pressure to act like everything is great and that we are winners. We aren’t winners. I’ll be concentrating on my loved ones and will hopefully find some joy and satisfaction and regain the ability to sing at the top of my lungs with my grandkids as soon as AR15s, scandals and dead elephants’ tails stop showing up in my dreams. MICHELLE TAFOYA Los Lunas