Christmas: Loss of Moral Values Over Material Gain?

As winter quickly approaches and Christmas is right around the corner, controversy emerges as a sense of Christmas losing its true meaning arises.

  Although Christmas views differentiate for all individuals, there used to be a stigma of “typical traditions” revolving around this time of year. With religious families and persons spending Christmas celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and others using the time to be with their families to commemorate the seasons together, Christmas has arguably reformed itself. 

Moral values reflected during Christmas traditions include faith, family, and solidarity while participating in caroling, baking, playing in the snow, decorating gingerbread houses, and touring lights. Even though these activities still partake, these moral views and traditions are ultimately becoming more obsolete.

Since Christmas occurs during the winter months, it is a time of seasonal depressive disorder in icy isolation. People tend to spend most of their time inside to avoid the freezing temperatures and begin to put all their time and effort into the holiday season. It is resulting in Christmas being a joyful celebration. 

However, the season is a time for large corporations to thrive off the energy put into the holiday to gain more profit. As large companies have significantly changed an overall look on Christmas throughout the last few centuries, there is more promotion on regulated products throughout the holiday months to engage consumers. Increasing advertisement around this time of year captivates children to beg for these toys and objects to the extent that parents will feed into the vicious cycle of companies profiting from large sums of money for their newly beloved product. Especially creating seasonal items significantly increases profits. Considering customers feel the desire to purchase the item to avoid losing an opportunity to participate before the Christmas season is over, companies’ profit reaches a yearly peak.

The moral value of giving is more important than receiving has lost all cherish. Presents are no longer meaningful, and greed is a second-hand feeling. Christmas currently revolves around the standard of what each individual is receiving and determines its value. The holiday has recently been perceived as a day to receive luxurious materialistic items that aren’t usual gifts. Seemingly, there is a sense of always longing for more throughout the holiday season as people are desperately looking for entire satisfaction in materialistic ideologies. Almost as if thirst is never fully satisfied because accepting unordinary presents provide an unrealistic expectation of a “good life.”

The controversy with Christmas and other winter holidays surrounds a feeling of this time of year being used to enlarge material gain over moral values. So whether you interpret these months as a time for participating in traditional activities and giving back to others rather than receiving, or believe Christmas is evolving with the current generation, it is essential to remain open-minded about a positive way to celebrate the holiday. Consider spending these months doing at least one thing to give back to someone before taking an entire day to commemorate the way you spend Christmas.