It's looking a lot like Christmas

Just what everyone wants for Christmas

Well, it is less than 35 shopping days to Christmas and there is no shortage of offers for spending your money.  Bangkok has its brand new and most stunning shopping mall, Icon Siam.  It sits right by the river and its architecture is breath taking.  Then I read this week how much it cost to build and that is just breath taking too - US$1.6 billion.  With all sorts of hotels, condo buildings and shopping malls being built all over the place, one can see huge money being poured into development in this city.  Where do people get such money?

I see this reality in my Bangkok and then read the words of Pope Francis last Sunday at mass where he reflected that "the cry of the poor daily becomes stronger but heard less, drowned out by the din of the the rich who grow ever fewer and more rich".  I hear those words.  I want to share them for the end of the Church year on Sunday as they are gutsy words for finishing off an action packed year.  They tell it as it is but I stand back as they may be too confronting, and not just for others; and then I ask myself - who am I not to repeat them? 

And this is where you get it

In my Bangkok, I am surrounded by ones who live like millionaires thanks to debt and credit cards.  They have the cars, the condo, the furniture and keep buying but not because they can afford it all.  Does everybody need so much in their lives?  No.  What they do need in an Asian style culture is to look good.  Prestige and status are so important here.  It is about how you look to the world that matters.  Who you are comes second.  So no one ever seems satisfied with their lot.  They just keep spending and keep building up their portfolio.  So my Bangkok is full of lovely buildings which the vast majority of inhabitants cannot afford but that is not the point. 

It is looking a lot like Christmas, my favourite time of year.  And boy, do we need Christmas more than ever as it reminds us, in a world that can be so false, who we really are and what life is really about.  It tells us we are good people as we are and what really matters in life is how we look after each other, especially when we are down, and that we share a bit of joy along the way. 

Ho! Ho! Ho!