Last night I went to the Lehigh Valley Zoo’s Holiday Spectacular, a holiday light show and more. It was beautiful and magical, and I had a wonderful time being with family. But it also triggered a thought for me. That thought is that everything, in America at least, has become a show and a competition.
There are now so many holiday light shows. Each one is vying to be the biggest, the best, the brightest. Individuals who decorate their homes, for Christmas, often try to outdo their neighbors with the intensity and size of their displays. Cue the Griswold’s reference!
Weddings are perhaps the worst example of how show business has become the norm in our daily lives. It is not unheard of for a couple, or their parents, to spend upwards of $20,000 on a wedding and reception. There is an industry of wedding planners to make sure the show is directed to perfection. Fire hall wedding receptions are mostly a thing of the past. Destination weddings appear to be the thing of the future. The more exotic the locale the better, after all it’s no longer just about love. It’s who can have a better wedding than the rest.
Even cooking and baking have not escaped the rush to make everything entertaining and competitive. We used to watch cooking shows where the amiable host would show us how to make a meal or bake a cake. Not anymore. Now we watch to see who can make the best meal with surprise ingredients or who can cook the fastest. Today it is not enough to make a delicious cake. That cake must be so beautiful and ornate and detailed and fragile that can anyone dare to even take a bite?
I’m tired of the glitz and the bombast. I’m tired of being part of some grand show. I’m just plain tired. Maybe it’s because of lingering Covid effects. But I don’t think so. I think it’s because I’m seventy years old and I grew up in a much simpler time. A time I miss greatly. I think it’s also because I’m an introvert. The show business and the competition aspects of life lend themselves to extroversion. I would love some quiet reflection in these harrowing times.
Thanks for letting me rant. In spite of all that ranting, I wish you all a wonderful holiday season. Remember, it’s about love and togetherness. It’s not about whose tree is the tallest.
A Semi-retired Kind of Life 