Seasons of Love

If the frenzied mob of angry soccer moms descending upon Target this past weekend like a pack of rabid bears after hibernation was any indication that the holiday season is here, a slew of secularized religious holidays are right around the corner. The tantalizing jewelry sales at Kay, the kitschy knickknacks at seasonal kiosks and even those creepy Bratz dolls are calling to your credit card: "Buy this or you will have failed as a friend, child, boyfriend, parent ..." With the apparent commercialization of Christmas, Hanukkah and the Winter Solstice, it is very easy to be jaded to the possibility of the season. \nHow the commercialized monstrosity that we now know as the Holiday Season sprang forth from the beauty, majesty and goodness of the original celebrations, I'm not sure, but that is neither here nor there. The issue at hand is the proliferation of cynical scholars who claim that the holidays are dead save for their convoluted, commercialized offspring. Their apathetic claims of empty motions and lip-service greetings are somewhat disheartening but mostly infuriating to this die-hard sentimentalist. To claim the hollowness of the holidays seems to be en vogue for the jaded socialite crowd, the shallow elitists who bemoan the value of tradition and the sacra for the white bread appeal of secular unoriginality. The fact of the matter, however, is that this line of thinking, though popular and stylish, is a total cop-out. To acknowledge the dearth of sincerity and the culture of excess, yet do nothing in your own sphere to rectify the issue, is to become complacent and ultimately to blame for the collective apathy and sickening glut. \nIt's easy to sit back and complain about the commercialization of the holidays and mock the spend-happy masses. It takes no talent to intellectually shit upon those who have a special connection to the culture of holiday consumption. It's like all the people who didn't vote in 2004, then decried the corruption of the Bush administration: You have no right to criticize because you let it happen! What does take strength and heart is to take back the potential inherent in the winter celebration. \nNow is the time to put a little more love into your corner of the world. Instead of bending ear and knee to their heinous, spiteful philosophies and perpetuating the cop-out cycle, acknowledge the next three weeks as an opportunity to "re-gift" the world. Holiday-induced signs of love are only meaningless and empty if you allow them to be. Love requires no religious motivation, nor is its legitimacy lessened by the cultural frenzy of consumerism. Christians, Jews, Muslims and atheists can all agree that love is love, no matter the season. So in the next month, love your neighbor, your family, your friends, your dog, the stranger in the checkout line and everyone you meet because now is all we have. Take full advantage of your break away from student life. Give with all the passion you can muster and rediscover a zeal for life that will last you long into the new year.