After 25 years Mariah Carey finally got to no 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 with her song “All I want for Christmas is you”.
It’s great that Mariah wants love for Christmas and does not seek more possessions. Like so many of us she’s probably received a multitude of Christmas presents in her lifetime.
Much has changed since the track was released 25 years ago. At the time I thought the future looked bright. Yet here we are not having managed to eradicate poverty. On top of that the planet is suffering from catastrophic human accelerated climate change. We live in polluted cities. Species are going extinct and plastic pollution means we now breathe and eat the stuff.
I recently wrote an opinion piece where I make the case that the Black Friday phenomena is a bad thing. This because unnecessary pathological consumption the world over is killing us and destroying the planet as we know it.
Many of us don’t associate ourselves with mother earth. We have lost touch with her and have forgotten that it is the planet that provides us with what we need to live.
If you were to ask me what I want for Christmas (and I hasten to say that I don’t affiliate myself with any religion) then the answer is simple – I wish for people to:
- appreciate and enjoy their gift of life on earth and treat her with respect
- treat those around them with respect and dignity
- stop believing they need more
- start to query the system we live in
- make change happen – we have the power
Simple!
Happy Christmas everyone