The Loonie Bin: Christmas Edition

I really struggled to come up with right post for Christmas. I could have wrote, "The top ten ways to save money at Christmas" or "Get ready for boxing day sales", but it just didn't seem right. I worry sometimes that the true meaning of Christmas will be forever lost.

Society tells us that when December rolls around, we have to fight through the masses at shopping malls and buy presents for our loved ones. While you're out looking for the latest fad like Tickle Me Elmo or Leapster 2, there are people in this world who are searching for scraps of food to feed their family. While we sit down to a giant turkey feast, others sit down to mourn the death of a loved one whose life ended needlessly. I personally believe there are enough resources to give every human being on this planet the basic needs they require to live a long and healthy life. Somewhere along road we have lost our way as a species, and mankind has become corrupt with greed. How can a few households in this world have an abundance of wealth that could never be spent in a hundred lifetimes yet every day, thousands of people die because they have nothing to eat.

I found a video on YouTube from an old Charlie Chaplin movie called The Great Dictator which is a satire on Nazism and Adolph Hitler. It was edited with new scenes and music and the speech by Charlie sums up everything I'm trying to write here. I can't help but feel moved every time I watch it and I want to share it with everyone I care about. Please watch the video and share it with everyone if you felt touched by it.

Does all this sound hypocritical coming from a man writing a blog about his journey to financial freedom? Maybe, but I have an overwhelming desire to not be forced to work almost every day of my life. I need shelter, so I applied for a mortgage to pay an outrageous amount of money for a house in a city that has access to incredible amounts of land and they even have the gull to sell me back the topsoil they scraped off of it. I need to eat so I make money to buy mass produced, chemically treated food and have to pay even more money to eat naturally grown food. I work to make money to buy clothing and some choose to pay insane amounts of money for a certain label on them, and so that others acknowledge that label which means absolutely nothing except for status. It is my dream to break free from this rat trap and to share my knowledge of how to do it with anyone who cares to listen.

This Christmas, spend more time with you family instead of wasting large amounts of money on junk that will just be broken or outdated in a year or two. Instead of feeding the face-less corporations, pay off your debt and free yourself from the invisible bondage that debt creates. Teach others to be efficient with their money instead of blowing it on designer labels or expensive vehicles. Show them that they will be loved no matter what they own and that status means nothing when you are happy and are loved.

I want to thank all my readers and followers for all of your support this year. Have a very Merry Christmas!