as pagans wife and I celebrate the solstice or yule, wife has herbal skills and is a life long countrywoman, I love the countryside and all things natural.
I hate the rampant commercialism of the modern world, everybody is in debt and thinks nothing of adding to that debt, most people cant pay off that debt even if they wanted to yet they keep on adding to it, I wonder where it will end?
That my friend could make another discussion altogether, & involves many other social problems such as gambling, jobless, rent prices, university fees, wages, welfare payments, house prices, mortgages, Bank fees, etc etc. Once you get yourself into debt, it can be a long hard task climbing out of it. This in turn can lead to homelessness, people living on the streets, crime, suicide. It is a slippery slope for some if they don't stop before reaching the edge. You can see how it can quite easily happen.
You have a decent job, you want to give your family what you think is a good life, perhaps a better one than you had. You are putting a little away, & at the same time extending yourself, maybe taking a chance & taking a loan against future wages. Then the bottom falls out of whatever market you are in. Suddenly you are jobless, redundant. You can't pay the bank back & those saving will not last long. You move to a cheaper rental, but that too won't last long. The marriage starts to falter, & there you are, right on the edge! It's a familiar story down the years, & there are a lot of these people out there. You can find them living on the streets & under bridges or in derelict buildings.
Let's not even get into those that turn to crime & drugs. It seems a long way from purchasing too many expensive useless Xmas presents doesn't it, but it happens. Just like I have seen people put food back so they can afford cigarettes, they will let their kids go hungry. There are a lot of people that have their priorities all wrong.
Like you say my friend,
"There's now't as queer as folk".
Keith.
