Christmas from the outsider's eyes - Day 536

This blog is not to make anyone feel bad or judged - it is about me sharing a point I observed today when driving the car.

It is always as the outsider that you are able to notice things that somehow are not noticeable when you are in it, as the insider. I don't do Xmas, never had - nothing against it, just not part of the religion I was born to. That's why I could see today things that I would probably not see if it was an holiday I was personally celebrating. So really, not here to judge anyone - here to make a note of what we are all accepting and allowing, including myself. Sharing it here today so that we can come up with practical solutions. So here it goes.

Christmas can be a lot of fun for many people - the holiday spirits starts somewhere at the beginning of Dec and you can literally 'feel' the excitement in the air. Shopping season starts and the malls are packed up and everyone just buy buy buy gifts for their loved ones.

Christmas can be a nightmare for others.. For those who cannot even dream of buying a gift, nevertheless a piece of bread. In South Africa, on a normal day, you'd see about one bagger per road-junction. Today, I saw a minimum of two baggers, sometimes three. And what broke my heart the most was seeing a 3 years old boy, sitting in between the roads, looking for an empty pack of chips, hoping something might have left inside.

I was looking at how many people we could feed with the amount of money spent on buying gifts for our loved ones. How many people could have celebrate Xmas today if they wouldn't have to bag for money in the streets. How many people are freezing to death cold nights (for example, in Europe and North America)  and how many people got over heated in today's super-hot day (Africa).

This is just food for thoughts.. To make us aware of what is really happening underneath our nose and how much of that we suppress and/or ignore.

Please watch this video - Fundamental Human Rights by Equal Life Foundation

Let's walk solutions together and change the source of the problem from within.