About the Gimme Season

Hanh mitakuyapi.  I visit the majority culture, but I definitely don't live in it. 

Traditional people give thanks often each day for our blessings, even the ones that are hardest to give thanks for - the hard lessons.  But I have a real dislike for the majority culture's insistence on jumping right from Hallowe'en to the Gimme Season.

I was in a store recently & saw a young Indn mother with 2 little ones, shopping for everyday things.  With all the Saturnalia decorations & urges to "fill those stockings!" she was pretty distracted by her children, constantly attracted to one colorful toy after another.  We all have been through this.  She looked at me & asked, "What do I tell them? They want everything."

My reply was, "It isn't good for you to have every colorful thing.  You won't have anything to eat. You won't have any clothes. You won't be able to go to school."  The children heard me say this, of course.  One of them got a very thoughtful look & said, "I wouldn't like that."  And after that, this darling Indn boy looked at every display with a most calculating look.. & the ignored them.

What a gift to have reached even one!  It makes a feast of its own kind.  Mitakuye oiasin.