Bah, humbug.

Perfect words for the holiday season, from an old man’s point of view.

Too much money, too much hugging, and too much forced happiness, too many cookies, all jammed into two or three weeks of the year.

Please, sir, might I have some more? (No apology to Dickens but a wish for Happy Holidays wherever he is reposing.)

I calculated how many of these seasons I might have left. It wasn’t a lot but that’s not so bad: Christmas is one of the biggest abominations ever set loose on civilization, right behind religion, which engendered the stupid holiday. The fewer to suffer through, the better.

There’s no point in repeating what is wrong with the holidays, everyone knows, but let’s look at the one good thing, and see if the good thing outweighs the bad. It might be an easy calculation.

The only good aspect of these holidays is people try to be good. The thought of gifts (rewards?) or someone watching over them (naughty list?) appears to inspire people to act in these holiday weeks the way they should act all year. There are acts of kindness and generosity so profound they bump political shenanigans from news outlets, and instead of hearing the false promises of politicians who want our money, we hear of the poor person giving his own money to help others less fortunate: an act truer to the Holiday Spirit than any Black Friday sale price or 0% car sale.

In these holiday weeks humanity gets a glimpse of what we could be if we weren’t so stupid and selfish. It’s a hint of our potential.

But to be happy about this revealed possibility, or not to be happy for its fade in the following weeks, that is the question. (Sorry, Shakespeare. Happy New Year.)

Huh. Shame on me for dissing the season. I DO prefer the glimpse, the hint, and I wish I had more. Maybe we’ll get our act together and make selfishness the rarity and selflessness the norm.

My guess about that? Bah humbug.