Everywhere one turns nowadays, the signs to make haste are undeniably there. On everyone’s lips is the endless talk about our working-class heroes eagerly marking each day up till the time when the signal is finally put up and the 13th month pay and/or Christmas bonus is finally out. When that moment arrives, we should all expect ATMs to again have long queues until they run out of cash. Also, almost all the banks, especially in the downtown areas, will be filled with withdrawing clients.
Pretty soon, shopping centers and malls (having already prepared for this eventuality with their eye-catching Christmas displays and lucrative sales) will be the prime targets of this rush of people already armed with their newly-received legal tender. Makes one wonder though, are these establishments really the targets or is it just the other way around? Who cares, the truth remains; everything is but just another ordinary episode in our never-ending history of commercial Christmas.
With each year that passes, it all begins to feel like playing a game of chess. One has got to be one or two moves ahead to win. With our innate ability to adapt, each household has just got to be wiser if we were to survive every Christmas that comes. Setting aside the religious bit for a while, try looking at it from the logistical perspective; spending-wise, how will our January be?
Undoubtedly, the Christmas season is regarded as the most popular celebration in the whole world, and that is a click beyond understatement. Practically everyone in all religious distinctions and different belief systems acknowledge the whole festivity and significance at Christmastime. While most of these might not be in the religious context, the opportunity that presents itself on the business side is huge, considering that more than half of the globe celebrate the yuletide season one way or another. This global impact of Christmas, from a business standpoint, can simply be scaled down into an ordinary Sunday service in any ordinary town anywhere. Outside any place of worship, a hodgepodge of stores will gravitate towards the exit extending to the roads, selling their wares and make a killing. The same is true all over the world during this season.
For these modern-day carpetbaggers, the mentality of ‘striking while the iron is hot’ is akin to the one percent blood incentive in a mile of water to their shark senses. The same is true when one eyes the rush by shoppers at the malls and similar establishments. Either way one views it, ‘seize the day’ takes on new meaning. When all is over, the dry spell after New Year’s begins.
In the end, who complains at Christmas? There are no victims here. While it may be many things to many people, from the top rung of society down, the common spirit of celebration remains the same, without considering the levels. Surviving the aftermath is however another matter.
