The Christmas Spirit

The other day, while trying to pass the time in my empty boring house in the Maryland, I came across a very interesting Facebook status.  The post came from a former student at an inner city school I used to volunteer at.  The post reads as follows, "Christmas is a bunch of bullshit. The world has turned it into an excuse for people to go out and buy shit. It puts people who dont have anything feel bad because their family cant afford anything while rich kids get what they want. Just appreciate the stuff you get year around. Tired of this i want this i want that shit."  When I first read this post, I felt offended and attacked, like this huge and traditional part of my life was being condemned.  But as I further considered it, I realized that he had a point.  Christmas has been transformed from a Christian religious celebration of Jesus's birth to a season of buying, giving and receiving.  When you talk to you're friends about christmas, you don't say, "man, I can't wait to celebrate Jesus' birthday", but rather you look forward to the presents, all the stuff you're going to get.  At this point, I thought to my self, christmas feel more like an economic holiday than a religious holiday.  My research has shown that that feeling is completely accurate.  A study I found, shows that more people shop online on christmas day than went to church.  Christmas has become a day about the exchange of "stuff".  

A "more efficient use of time and money"

        This morning I was reading another edition of the world's finest newspaper, the Wilmette Life and came across an article that I felt compelled to blog about.  The article reports that the New Trier Booster Club has pledged one million dollars to help them lay down an artificial turf for the athletes to play on.  The entire project is expected to cost almost 3 and a half million dollars.  The article quotes Kaci Smith, the Booster Club president saying that this project would be "more efficient use of time and money".  The Booster Club will raise the money through donations.
       I personally struggle to see a less efficient use of time or other's money.  I have a hard time imagining such vast sums of money being thrown away to something as inessential as fake grass.  Think of all the people someone could help with 3.3 million dollars.  People have played sports on grass for over 3,000 years, it is surely not essential to change this now.  The argument for turf is that it is an even playing field that is more durable so that teams can practice safely all year long.  There are plenty of cons too, such as overheating, lead poison, and pollution.  I won't argue however, that the cons outweigh the pros or vice versa,  because frankly it doesn't matter.  I am more focused on the fact that our nation is going through recession and New Trier is focused on laying down fake grass.