It's the most.. wonderful time of the year

This past Friday was the official start of the holidays for me. Too bad we have already been experiencing the ads, the displays and in some places, the songs for close to a month. I guess I'm still burned out on Christmas after working retail in high school and college. All the marketing people that think it's a great idea to get a jump on Christmas advertising in stores need to work in their own stores during that time and subject themselves to their own water torture. After hearing Feliz Navidad for the fifth time in an hour people begin associating "I want to wish you a Merry Christmas" with "I want to wish you life of torture". Not having worked for a church, I can only imagine it's the same way there. Well, the same but without Feliz Navidad, unless the pastor is a sadist. Actually, I kind of know it's that way. My mom is in charge of the children's choirs at her church and she always seems on edge until they are finished singing on Christmas Eve. I know other who work(ed) at churches and it sounds like all the additional work drives the Christmas spirit out of them as well. It's not like any of us WANT to be annoyed by the holiday, we just are. What is sad to me is that even though I am no longer working in retail, I am still jaded about the holidays. Part of it is a conditional response after the six years of retail. The other part is just a growing sense of bitterness towards the commercialization/exploitation of such a wonderful day. So far this year, the bitterness has been relatively tame, I am hoping it stays that way.

Huh?

A couple of months ago, a magazine I received had an article about a high profile environmentalist that was hired by Wal-Mart to do some consulting for them. Obviously it was to help them in their sustainability efforts, but the guy is catching all sorts of crap from his supposed friends for "selling out". I read the article, pretty interesting stuff on some of the things they're trying to do. But that's all beside the point. Last week I received the new issue and there were some lettors to the editor about the article. All but one were positive. I just couldn't fathom the negative one. The writer seemed ANGRY at Wal-Mart for pursuing a good sustainability. Their main issue was that they weren't doing it because it was good for the planet, but because it was good for their profit margins. Now, if they were acting evil like they normally do to increase profits, it would be understandable for anyone to be upset. This isn't the case this time. In fact, I believe that anyone that cares about the planet, regardless of their feelings towards Wal-Mart, should be celebrating what they are doing. Why? Because they are showing that doing the right thing can be a win-win situation. The environmentalists should be happy with less pollution and the shareholders should be happy with increased profits. What do I know?