How many times have you heard people say, `I’m not greedy: I just want enough to be comfortable.’ But how much is enough? What does comfortable mean? On Chanel 4 this week there was a Dispatches documentary about children living in poverty. One of the families featured was a single mum with two children aged 8 & 5. They had fled domestic abuse and were living on £5 a day for food, heating, electricity and everything else. That’s just £1.66 per person per day. I don’t know how much enough is, but I know that £1.66 per day is NOT enough and I feel ashamed to live in a society where families are expected to exist on that.
We are in December now – not so much the season of goodwill; more the season of commercialism.We are bombarded with adverts telling us that we don’t have enough – we need the latest £1,000 phone, or diamond encrusted watch that tells you not only the time but also how far you’ve walked, your blood pressure, heart rate and probably boils the kettle for you too! Children, whose toy cupboards already look like Hamley’s shop floor, are told they need more plastic gadgets that will probably be discarded within a few months.
Images of families sitting around tables groaning under the weight of luxury food, subliminally tell us that the turkey/nut roast and mince pies we were planning is nowhere near enough to sustain us over the 2-day Bank Holiday. A significant amount of the food we buy over the holiday period will end up in landfill, to rot down and produce methane and other greenhouse gases that will further enhance climate change. Surely enough is enough?
All the pictures on this post were taken this December. Note the leaves still on the trees. A couple of decades ago, the trees would have been bare by December but not any more. The seasons are changing and that is a direct result of climate change. And we are all responsible. It’s easy to blame the U.S. or China or the big industrial companies but if every single one of us made one small change, we really could change the world.
Here are some of the things my family and I are doing this year: we have drastically cut down the number of presents the adults will get and also reduced the number the children will receive. Personally, I have hand-made all my grandchildren’s presents this year, so that their gifts will have love sewn into them and will, hopefully, become heirlooms. We have agreed to use non-sparkly, non-mettalic wrapping paper with no sticky tape: the presents will be tied with string or rafia so that everything can be recycled. I also managed to find biodegradable crackers filled with sustainable trinkets and most of the food will be homemade with as little plastic wrapping as possible.
My husband and I also buy presents for children who are in hospital over the Christmas period and families on low incomes through his charity the Frank Charles Give a Gift Appeal: http://www.frankcharles.org My husband also feeds between 30 – 45 homeless people every week and each Christmas we take them for a cooked breakfast and give them a present of socks, hats, gloves, underwear and toiletries. This is through the organisation he runs called Feed The Streetz. It won’t solve the problems of the world – or those of the rough sleepers – but it might help to bring a little bit of comfort and kindness to people who have nothing.
I love Christmas as much as the next person but it is becoming a season of excess. And the vast majority of us have everything we need. We have enough. More than enough. This year, as well as buying presents for the family, what about buying an extra one and giving it to the Salvation Army or another charity that supports people and families living in poverty. As well as buying your own food for Christmas dinner, buy some extra – maybe luxury items – for those less fortunate and give them to your local food bank.
Together, we can bring about change.
And if you’re interested in following my husband on FaceBook you can check him out on www.frankcharles.org or Feed The Streetz. Happy giving!
Reiki in Wanstead 