By Staff
When is enough, enough?
The answer to that vague question depends on personal opinion.
What is enough to one is not enough to another. But we all have our opinion. I certainly have mine!
Have you ever eaten more than enough and felt uncomfortable? I'm sure that many will answer "yes" after Thanksgiving dinner.
Have you ever smelled too much cologne or perfume on someone?
Have you ever thought, that person has too much hair color or too much lipstick? Or that person has too much makeup? Or that outfit is too tight? Or that person is too fat? Or that person is too loud? Or she has on too much jewelry? Or that car was traveling too fast? Or I paid too much for that item? Or our guests stayed too long last night? Admit it! Of course you have!
We seem to indulge, even at the risk of exceeding the limit of too much, and most of us don't feel the least bit guilty.
Perhaps we need more guilt.
Guilt has the potential of curbing the excesses of more than enough.
Now that that horrible holiday, Halloween, is past (thank the ghouls!), Thanksgiving is only indigestion and heartburn and black Friday left many addicted shoppers penniless, we can turn our attention to – ta-da – Christmas!
Talk about enough. Talk about excess. I won't even go into the accumulated debt we bring upon ourselves.
I'm most amazed at the excess in Christmas decorations.
What some believe is beautiful is totally garish.
My friend Shirley and I fantasize being the Christmas patrol.
We would really like to paste labels on all Christmas displays – tacky or tasteful, discrete or obscene, just plain terrible, and please take this down.
Whatever happened to the philosophy that less is more? That little is better? Some, in my opinion, just don't know when enough Christmas decoration is enough.
Okay, you get my point.
More important than these superficial indulgences is the reality of international conflict and war.
Haven't we lost enough young women and men to the war in Iraq?
Haven't enough civilians been killed in Iraq? Civil war in Iraq not only seems imminent, it is a present reality. People killing people – what better way to celebrate the holidays?
It seems to me that the powers that be in Washington don't know when enough is enough.
Sure, my reasoning is simplistic. But sometimes it's the simple answers that are best. War boosts economy. Look at the pockets it's filling. But look at the homes it's depleting – here and in Iraq. War is a lose-lose situation. No nation ever wins. We all lose.
When is enough hatred enough? We argue and fight. Hostility is unleashed. Blacks, whites, aliens, gays, tree-huggers, liberals, conservatives, Democrats, Republicans, hunters, vegetarians, Christians, Muslims – where does it end?
Should we not feel guilty?
The answer to the question, when is enough, enough, is very personal.
The answer is each person's responsibility.
I have decided that war, no matter what the "reason", is wrong. Discrimination is wrong. Killing is wrong.
And too many Christmas lights are tasteless.