May Gumbytron heap blessings on you and yours

“Consume mass quantities”

you’ll never fill that gaping hole
inside your soul
with stuff
no matter how hard you try

if you can buy someone’s love
with shiny things,
what will happen to that love
when the luster fades?

more shiny things?
that lie in piles unappreciated?
because you have given too much stuff?
because you raised expectations once again?

where does it end?
buying things you don’t need
with money you don’t have
to prove you are a good consumer

you should have that written on your epitaph:
“here lies a good consumer.”

i’m not saying you shouldn’t give,
but give your most precious gifts to those you love,

build some memories that don’t involve wrapping paper…

give those the Lord has entrusted to your care
the lessons they will need to face the future

give them the tools to think for themselves
and not the pap fed to us by the commercial media

life is not about the stuff you accumulate
and Mother Earth is already stretched to her limits
swiping that card one more time adds to her misery
and adds to your misery in the long run

but this is the way things are, you may say,
if i don’t buy that technobauble for my child
she won’t fit in, she’ll feel inferior

is this what you wamt your children to believe?
that what you have defines who and what you are?

you may believe your value lies in these things
but do you really want to pass
that diseased philosophy
to your children too?

greed is good
more greed is more good
can’t get enough greed

all that stuff you find so precious
can be wiped out in a single instant,
a fire, a tornado,
what will you have left of yourself
if you place your value outside yourself?

here are some lessons that will last a lifetime:

restraint, you don’t have to charge over the precipice
with all the other lemmings

value, for the blessings we receive each day
just in drawing another breath

love, for those around you
and not all those things falling out of your closets

the greatest gifts we have are the times we get to spend together
on this short ride through the galaxy
don’t let shiny things get in the way of those great gifts.

11.26.20..12