Not So Polite Dinner Conversation – the thought that counts requires some thinking

My husband and I spent today listening to music, talking, eating and drinking. We listened to holiday music and the music from the first Star Wars movie since we both got that as a Christmas present back in the 70s. Back then, we promptly listened to it as soon as we could get away from our families. And listened to it and listened to it again. 🙂

We exchange presents with my parents and we get gifts for my niece and nephews. I really don’t like doing it because I never know what to get. If I’m going to the trouble, I want to make sure I get something that the recipient will really like and not default to a gift card or something similar that shows I don’t even know or care to know the person I am giving it to.

I’d rather get nothing than get something that was just some perfunctory filling of a requirement.

But that didn’t happen. I get one more reason to not like the holidays very much.

My parents got me a necklace. A guardian angel necklace.   It always hurts when you realize your parents, first, aren’t the perfect people you were sure they were as a child, and it hurts more when you find out that they don’t even think about what they are getting you as a present. A piece of tat, $2 worth of crystal beads and a brass stamping and sold for $50, that glorifies one of the more bizarre and ridiculous myths of a religion that they know I do not practice is quite a disappointment.

The idea of guardian angels is a rather sad one when looking around at the world. The idea is that everyone has a special angel assigned to them to help them and protect them. Amazing how there is nothing different between “guardian angels”, coincidence and luck; guardian angels are pretty damn incompetent for being powerful being supposedly only concerned with someone’s well-being. Guardian angels also throw the idea of free will that so many Christians love to claim into doubt since a guardian angel is to make one know that one cannot do anything by one’s self, but only with the help of the Christian god. Pope Francis is quite sure of this: ““Go, you will do what I[God] tell you. You will journey in your life, but I will give you help which will continuously remind you what you must do”.

The whole idea reeks of arrogance and ignorance; the delusion that one person is somehow better than another because of supernatural nonsense.   Golly, I guess your guardian angel was sleeping on the job because you were killed in a tornado.   But, look, Betty here got a nice parking space because hers was looking after her.

Sigh. I can’t even take comfort in the idea that it’s the thought that counts. There was no thinking at all.  So, folks, please take the time to think about those you love.  It isn’t about the presents at all; it’s about caring for the person.