CHRISTMAS 2010: The Flipside of Buying

Artwork by Lorraine Blasor

MAKE SOMETHING CHRISTMAS

Buy Nothing Day is a revolutionary concept.

Launched in September 1992 by Vancouver artist Ted Dave, it is "a day for society to examine the issue of over consumption." The date was subsequently changed to the Friday after American Thanksgiving, also known as Black Friday for being one of the heaviest shopping days in the U.S., and to Saturday, for the international celebration.

Some brave souls are now proposing to up the ante with Buy Nothing Christmas. This is even more subversive for it goes against the grain of this most popular and festive occasion, a holiday most Americans grow up to cherish because it is part of their childhood memories and the nation's collective social history.

Clearly, however, consumerism has reached a dangerous peak of feverishness as exemplified a couple of years ago by the the distressing news of hordes of buyers stampeding through the doors of a Wal-Mart store in order to be the first ones to grab items for sale at big markdowns on Black Friday. The outcome: one person dead and at least three patrons injured. When did shopping become this brutal?

It would be disingenuous to believe that appeals to "unshop" can turn the tide of mass consumerism that is sweeping the entire globe and is now coming up against the harsh realities of a planet in serious trouble. According to the World Wildlife Fund, our Ecological Footprint, i.e. our use of the planet's resources, "now exceeds the Earth's ability to produce renewable resources and absorb CO2…We now use the resources of 1.5 Earths every year….By the late 2030s humanity will need the capacity of two Earths." 

Going back to Buy Nothing Christmas. Perhaps a different approach is in order. Instead of Buy Nothing, how about its flip side: Make Something Christmas. In other words, make gifts yourself instead of buying them.

If your talent is cooking, bake cookies or cakes or, if you are really good in the kitchen, consider giving your friends a master class on how to prepare a few special dishes. If you have a knack for carpentry, offer to build a bookshelf or fix something broken down. Or maybe your friends are a couple with children. Your gift: an offer to babysit the kids so mom and dad can enjoy a night out on the town. 

There are so many things one can do or make that fit the description of a fine gift, things that don't require money, only a little spare time and goodwill. Make Something Christmas seems like a good way to celebrate Christmas which, of course, should essentially be a celebration of love, family and friends.

"I do not know what I want, and perhaps I shall never know, but my only wish from every star will always be another star." Truman Capote

A SIMPLE TIP When doctors prescribe more than one medicine, ask them to write a prescription for each one on separate forms instead of listing them all on a single form. This way, in the event you are unable to fill the prescription in its entirety at one pharmacy (either because it does not carry the medicine or lacks the generic or brand-name equivalent ), you can take the separate prescription for the missing medicine to another pharmacy. Pharmacies only accept original prescriptions, never copies.

Photograph by Denise Blasor

"I only owned enough to half fill a suitcase." Charles Bukowski (from his novel "Factotum")