Sometimes the theology of the songs just disgusts me. This is one of my favorites...
"Santa knows we're all God's children, that makes everything right
So hang your stockings and say your prayers cause Santa Claus comes tonight...
Peace on earth will come to all if we just follow the light
Let's give thanks to the Lord above cause Santa Claus comes tonight"
What light are we supposed to follow, anyway? The light from Rudolph's nose? But I digress.
The song that gets me mad, really mad, is the one that talks about "a world outside your window", "a world of dreaded fear" - but tonight, "thank God it's them instead of you".
Now I'm all in favor of finding things to be thankful for. But really? I'm thankful your life is harder than mine. Good job America, what a great lesson to teach kids.
To be fair, the song ends chanting "feed the world feed the world feed the world". But the purely selfish statement in the middle pretty much kills it for me. It's pretty close to our attitude, though, isn't it? Africa is conveniently distant, and it's so easy to get blinded by our busy little lives with all our important little problems.
I hear again and again from people that they don't like Christmas because finding the perfect gift is so stressful. While I sympathize... part of me wonders - why is shopping the main problem this month? That doesn't need to be the biggest issue that keeps us awake in our warm beds in warm houses after eating warm meals... maybe we need a change in perspective.
Which picture are you more comfortable with? Duh, I hate looking at pictures of starving kids. So if I thank God someone else's family is starving instead of mine, can I just forget about it?
Africa is far away.
Where are our priorities?
The UN says someone dies of starvation every 3.6 seconds. That's two or three people dying in the time it takes us to update a Facebook status. Well, tonight thank God it's them instead of you.
Another reason to NOT listen to Christmas music. Thanks! ;)
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