Commentary

Posted in: Commentary
A bleak Christmas? No, a gift
By Mitch Traphagen
Dec 11, 2008 - 6:42:16 PM

Victor's Old Fashioned Christmas, which will take place on Saturday, could not possibly be more appropriate this year. As a nation, we are standing on the verge of returning to much of what is considered old fashioned.

That America has been the greatest nation on earth is no fluke. It was achieved through innovation and hard work - Americans, in general, have always strived to succeed in everything we set out to do. Unfortunately, it seems lately, we've been more interested in living off the largesse of our success than building upon it. To me, that is one of the main reasons we are seeing the economy stumble. Of course there are many other reasons as well - chiefly, the war in Iraq and the housing crisis. We have long since maxed out our credit cards on those.

The roots of the problems we face today long pre-date the Bush administration - the slide began many years before as we let our infrastructure go, as we changed our values from rewarding hard work to rewarding those clever enough to exploit the various systems. As a nation it seems we stopped producing tangible things and began figuring out ways to tap into a gigantic money pipeline to suck out what we could.

Large financial companies were greedy, hoping to milk the real estate boom for every last cent. Consumers were naive or downright stupid (yes, I can include myself in the latter) in signing up for mortgages with excessive and unwarranted optimism in the ability to comfortably and responsibly repay them. We went on a decades-long buying binge that literally led us off an economic cliff. Over the past months, we were like Wiley E. Coyote in the old Road Runner cartoons - we ran off the cliff and there was an uncomfortable moment of suspension in mid-air - almost a disbelief - before the fall. But now, the fall has begun and the bottom is approaching fast.

During the height of one of my generation's greatest recessions in the early 1970s, I clearly remember one Christmas. There was a single gift for me under the tree - the shape was something incredibly familiar - but I still couldn't believe it. In the days prior to Christmas Eve, I slowly worked at the corners of the gift wrapping to prove to myself that yes, my parents were giving me an HO train set.

That my skullduggery had eliminated the surprise did nothing to diminish the excitement - I couldn't wait to tear the wrapping off that box on Christmas Eve. I spent the next few years building upon that train set - it was a gift I still have today, although it now resides in boxes somewhere in my Mom's basement. Typing these words, however, I can still feel the excitement I felt. Over the years, I built my own little world with that gift - it was something real and tangible - not fleeting and digital.

Of course by today's standards, that would have been a miserable Christmas. There really wasn't all that much in terms of instant gratification - it was a gift that required continued work. There was nothing there that beeped or lit up or blasted tunes out to tiny earbuds. There wasn’t a pile of presents - it was a single gift of common origin - a mail order catalog. That single gift, however, remains with me today 35 years later. It meant the world to me.

Decades prior to my train set, during the height of the Great Depression, my Mom also remembers her most memorable gift as a child: hair barrettes. She said that while growing up she always hoped for dolls for Christmas but they were too expensive. The hair barrettes, however, remain in her heart and mind nearly 70 years later - that gift meant the world to her.

The headlines today seem to constantly trumpet how bleak this Christmas will be in America. The shoppers are staying home - or, at least, keeping their wallets shut. While the job situation certainly is bleak, as a nation, we are long overdue for a correction. We are long overdue for a return to an old-fashioned Christmas. That is the kind in which family and friends matter more than the junk we buy. That is the kind in which a single gift of simple origin could be something that will last a lifetime. We don't need to apologize, we don't need to worry about it. We need to embrace it - there is no shame in being old fashioned - in fact, it may well be our economic salvation.

As a nation, we have now have the opportunity to remind ourselves what is important at Christmas. We can focus on our family and friends, rather than the gifts we purchase in replacement for our presence and our time. We can also remind ourselves that it is time to re-invest in America, in our roads and infrastructure. We will come back and we’ll be better than before.

The frightening economy doesn’t have to equate to a bleak Christmas. The changes being imposed upon us by financial realities could be considered old fashioned - but they could also be considered a gift. We now have the opportunity to set things right again - with ourselves and our nation.

It all will begin with an old fashioned Christmas.

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