Dec 18---are the hilidays about spending today?

As usual a great evening on Nightline.

Are the holidays about money and spending or...

Anastasia brought it all together with this post...

A great example of what those listening to Nightline have on their minds!

Keep it coming!

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To: James@arnonline.com
From: Anistasia

For some reason, people seem to think that money = love. more money =
more love. he who buys the more expensive present loves the son or
daughter or spouse more. I think that's too material. and a lot of
companies make a business out of it (Hallmark for instance; they seem
to have a card for everything!) I'm not cheap mind you. There are
times i buy expensive presents for people. but physical things never
replace the non physical things. if you're miserable, buying a little
something, might keep you happy for a little while; but then you get
depressed all over again. rich people aren't necessarily the happiest
people. If you have a lot of 'stuff' does it mean you are happy? yeah
maybe, if you can afford it and if it doesn't send you further into
debt come January. for non rich folks like you and me; if we spend a
fortune on gifts, later on we're left with huge bills to pay off.
wouldn't a picnic with your family; a camping trip to Hatta; a night
out having fun somewhere, doing something different, be better than
giving eachother the latest iPod, souped up stereo, huge TV that cost
a small fortune....etc. (although these things are nice, we do live in
a material world, and people seem to judge eachother by the amount of
stuff you have. especially here. the car you drive matters, the phone
you have matters. etc etc. and dear Lord if you ever be nice to
someone, there's always the people that get suspicious about what you
are up to/what you have done wrong/what do you want/etc.

and i've said it we're a material world. he who has most stuff, wins.
or something along those lines. but we hardly ever seem to consider
the non physical 'gifts' that people can give us. one of the best
gifts i've ever received from someone was a thank you from my manager
at the library, for all the work i've done. and that's part of the
problem. we seem to have forgotten how to say 'thank you' even for the
little things people do. sometimes those two words can make a person's
day. granted, there are those that go "forget that, i want something
material" which leads back to the whole "money = love" well money
can't buy love. if you buy your kids a PlayStation, a Wii, couple of
computers, books, games, stuff... but barely spend time with them,
ultimately, is that a good thing?

this show reminded me of something I heard by a comedian some time
ago. A House is basically a place to put your stuff...and you keep
getting more stuff...then you have to move because you have no place
for your stuff.

George Carlin on Stuff

Actually this is just a place for my stuff, ya know? That's all, a
little place for my stuff. That's all I want, that's all you need in
life, is a little place for your stuff, ya know? I can see it on your
table, everybody's got a little place for their stuff. This is my
stuff, that's your stuff, that'll be his stuff over there. That's all
you need in life, a little place for your stuff. That's all your house
is: a place to keep your stuff. If you didn't have so much stuff, you
wouldn't need a house. You could just walk around all the time.

A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. You can see that
when you're taking off in an airplane. You look down, you see
everybody's got a little pile of stuff. All the little piles of stuff.
And when you leave your house, you gotta lock it up. Wouldn't want
somebody to come by and take some of your stuff. They always take the
good stuff. They never bother with that crap you're saving. All they
want is the shiny stuff. That's what your house is, a place to keep
your stuff while you go out and get...more stuff!

Sometimes you gotta move, gotta get a bigger house. Why? No room for
your stuff anymore. Did you ever notice when you go to somebody else's
house, you never quite feel a hundred percent at home? You know why?
No room for your stuff. Somebody else's stuff is all over the goddamn
place! And if you stay overnight, unexpectedly, they give you a little
bedroom to sleep in. Bedroom they haven't used in about eleven years.
Someone died in it, eleven years ago. And they haven't moved any of
his stuff! Right next to the bed there's usually a dresser or a bureau
of some kind, and there's NO ROOM for your stuff on it. Somebody
else's shit is on the dresser.

Have you noticed that their stuff is shit and your shit is stuff? God!
And you say, "Get that shit offa there and let me put my stuff down!"

Sometimes you leave your house to go on vacation. And you gotta take
some of your stuff with you. Gotta take about two big suitcases full
of stuff, when you go on vacation. You gotta take a smaller version of
your house. It's the second version of your stuff. And you're gonna
fly all the way to Honolulu. Gonna go across the continent, across
half an ocean to Honolulu. You get down to the hotel room in Honolulu
and you open up your suitcase and you put away all your stuff. "Here's
a place here, put a little bit of stuff there, put some stuff here,
put some stuff--you put your stuff there, I'll put some stuff--here's
another place for stuff, look at this, I'll put some stuff here..."
And even though you're far away from home, you start to get used to
it, you start to feel okay, because after all, you do have some of
your stuff with you. That's when your friend calls up from Maui, and
says, "Hey, why don'tchya come over to Maui for the weekend and spend
a couple of nights over here."

Oh, no! Now what do I pack? Right, you've gotta pack an even SMALLER
version of your stuff. The third version of your house. Just enough
stuff to take to Maui for a coupla days. You get over to Maui--I mean
you're really getting extended now, when you think about it. You got
stuff ALL the way back on the mainland, you got stuff on another
island, you got stuff on this island. I mean, supply lines are getting
longer and harder to maintain. You get over to your friend's house on
Maui and he gives you a little place to sleep, a little bed right next
to his windowsill or something. You put some of your stuff up there.
You put your stuff up there. You got your Visine, you got your nail
clippers, and you put everything up. It takes about an hour and a
half, but after a while you finally feel okay, say, "All right, I got
my nail clippers, I must be okay." That's when your friend says,
"Aaaaay, I think tonight we'll go over the other side of the island,
visit a pal of mine and maybe stay over."

Aww, no. NOW what do you pack? Right--you gotta pack an even SMALLER
version of your stuff. The fourth version of your house. Only the
stuff you know you're gonna need. Money, keys, comb, wallet, lighter,
hanky, pen, smokes, rubber and change. Well, only the stuff you HOPE
you're gonna need.

--

Yup, we're a material world...

As for the children living with parents. when is enough, enough? when
the kid can support himself/herself. that might be after they finish
their education, it might be before. it might be when they get
married...it's on a case by case basis i guess. although....my
brother is 30 years old, recently married; he still lives with us.
he's fully capable of supporting himself, but he just doesn't want to
it seems. Dad suggested he move out, they get their own place and so
on; my brother doesnt want to yet. Maybe because he's not ready to do
so. Me? I'm moving out soon as i get a steady job and get on my own
two feet, so to speak. whether it's here in UAE or out of the
country. I think it's the parents' responsibility to teach their
children to be responsible and not to feed off of the parents. so if
all your kid is doing is sitting at home and playing games at 30,
instead of going out and getting a job, by all means, kick 'em out of
the house, because that sort of behavior is just.... rude. of course
to parents, the children will always be their little babies, and maybe
that's why a lot of the parents dont want to kick their kids out at
any age. you gotta be pretty tough a parent (or just heartless?) to
kick your kid out once they reach a certain age or finish their
studies "all right you got your degree, get outta the house!" no,
that's a bit...sudden. but the other side of things, is parents
aren't going to be around forever, the kids have to be aware of that
and be ready to support themselves.