Nathaniel
Shockey
Read Nathaniel's bio and previous columns
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December 24, 2007
Capitalism at
Christmas: The Festival of Colorful, Oddly Shaped Resources
As
far as I can understand, the fundamental idea behind capitalism is that
the vast majority of people will make themselves useful if they have to.
If there were no competition involved, if everything was simply given to
people – their jobs as well as their physical needs – productivity would
go down, and everything, in general, would go to pot.
I
think it’s probably the best system yet, and very likely the best one
we’ll ever imagine, but it definitely has its flaws – namely, the
people. Capitalism taps into many deep human characteristics. On one
hand, it exploits human creativity. We think of newer, more effective,
efficient ways to do things. Capitalism has played a major role in
making America a superpower. It is rich with resources, cold hard cash
and opportunities. It truly is a great nation.
But capitalism also exploits human greed. When you take a sober look
around, you’ll see that our health care system is in shambles, our
education system is much more about degrees than learning, and we’re
overwhelmed with business people but quite underwhelmed with
craftspeople. Everything is geared towards achieving affluence, but when
we stop and take a look around, we find ourselves obsessed with
possessions, getting ahead and, all too rarely, things of real value.
I
cannot think of any time of the year when the peripheral damage of
capitalism is more obvious than around Christmas. Somehow, Christmas
exploits everything bad about our society.
If
an alien from another planet was peering down through a giant telescope
at a retail store the day after Thanksgiving, I wonder what he’d be
thinking.
“It seems as though the entire population within 15 square miles has
just discovered valuable resources at this exact location. The resources
are quite strange on this planet. They’re colorful, oddly shaped, and
quite frankly, I have no idea why they need any of it. I see little to
be gained from studying this planet, and I’d destroy it at this very
moment were I not extremely curious to see how that fat guy plans on
getting into that tiny transportation device.”
We
spend huge amounts of time trying to find the best deals on things we
don’t need. Then we put half of them in the mail because we don’t live
anywhere near the people we love the most. Many of us won’t even see our
parents this Christmas because jobs, random circumstances or perhaps
just general apathy has landed us hundreds or thousands of miles apart.
Christmas has a way of reminding us that much of what we do is quite
unnecessary, and even unnatural.
There are many places around the world where generations of families
live right next door, a short walk away or, sometimes, under the same
roof. People don’t have to spend tons of money in order to hop on a
plane and see their loved ones for a week. I bet there are places where
family doesn’t even play such a starring role on this poignant Christian
holiday simply because your family is already there. It’s an odd
thought.
But we live in America, and although this may be the freest country out
there with the most opportunity to shape your life however you choose,
perhaps we should be more careful with the way in which we prioritize.
Of
course, our situation is very salvageable. While capitalism does
complicate things, it also affords us the choice of un-complicating
them. We don’t have to live so far from our families, and we don’t have
to spend half a year’s salary on Christmas presents. It feels like we
do, but logic suggests otherwise.
Christmas has taken its share of blows over the course of time, but it’s
still standing. And perhaps the messiness of it all, now more than ever,
can serve as a wake-up call to those of us who fell asleep all alone
surrounded by colorful, oddly shaped resources.
© 2007
North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.
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