With Christmas so much more of a commercial holiday nowadays, rather than a religious one, perhaps this year its time to shrug off that capitalist impulse to buy the latest gadget, and instead, think more ethically when it comes to the festive season. Christmas is after all, all about giving, and what better way to give than to buy presents for your loved ones, whilst being charitable and ethical at the same time. For years charities have attempted to refocus the holiday season around the issues of ‘giving’, ‘kindness’ and ‘goodwill to all men’. The benevolence of the festive period has been somewhat smudged and lost by the sheer corporateness of it all; in the midst of such financial hardships it’s time to spare a thought for those people in the world who really are suffering.
Organisation like Oxfam, Amnesty International and the Red Cross continue to help out those world’s poorest people. The year has been an extremely difficult one for those living in the poorest countries across the world. Flash floods, droughts, tsunamis, earthquakes and global climate change have made thousands homeless, and millions still struggle daily to provide themselves with food and water. One of the best ways that you can support these charities this Christmas is to invest in some charity gifts for your family and loved ones. As well as buying charity gifts you can also choose to buy fair trade gifts and products this Christmas. The Fair Trade organisation is an organised social movement which aims to help producers in developing nation through economic and sustainability policies. Buying fair trade goods ensures that everyone involved in the creation of a product receives fair and substantial remuneration.
One product that caught my eye over at the Oxfam shop was the selection of charity Christmas cards created and designed by Ricky Gervais. The series of cards is based upon the comedian’s best selling series of children’s book the Flanimals. Each card represents a different Flanimal and a different charity cause from feeding the hungry to supporting those with HIV/AIDS across the world.
Remember this Christmas wherever you are that it’s a wonderful life, but not everyone around the world is as lucky.
Hey, interesting entry. Here are some random facts about myself: I just bought a Transformers collectible to add to my collection and a Transformers decepticon logo car sticker. I like the NFL and I can’t go to sleep without a cup of coffee.
But now I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.
Umberto Eco