There was a time I could have started a chat about December with a welcome to the month of Christmas but marketing means it is more like welcome to the third and final month of Christmas. I recall seeing a TV show about the Amazon and some rain-forest tribesmen coming across a wild bee hive in a tree and climbing to snatch the honey indifferent to any stings, sitting at the base of the tree eating it all with huge grins on their faces. Apart from the act of stealing, they demonstrated what so many of us have lost – the sheer enjoyment in enjoying the unusual and rare.
Being at home six weeks at a stretch and having a mad two weeks to see friends and walk the dogs in my own time I am aware of the wastage of time we have in our society because we run past so much always knowing we can go back, buy more or better or share with someone else. We are indulged and even if we are poor in this society we can arrange to get the cast-offs (called second-hand) of many things from others who have more. I was always surprised to find people who could not afford proper clothes for their babies sitting in front of huge TVs.
It is not that less is better but that we are better with less. Indulged people are boring.