We have wisely been warned not to talk about what we are going to do tomorrow because we don’t know what tomorrow may bring. Yet, we more and more seem to live in the future, tomorrow, instead of today.
Computers have conditioned us to be dissatisfied with waiting. We have to have it now. We have to know it now. That’s why so many of us get our knowledge of what is happening in the world online. Even TV news isn’t quick enough for us anymore.
All this just adds stuff for us to worry about.
For example, do you want to think about how you must to dispose of your Christmas tree now?
Christmas still is a ways off. It isn’t even Thanksgiving yet.
Nevertheless, Oak Park officials are telling us how to get rid of our Christmas trees.
In the latest village newsletter, we are informed how to properly throw out Christmas trees and decorations. This is good information. And there will come a time when I want to know it. But not now.
I’d like to have time to actually have the Christmas experience before considering how to dispose of it.
I want to savor the worry of how to afford Christmas presents.
I want to ponder whether I should continue to send a Christmas card to that guy even though he didn’t send me a card last year.
I want to figure out if I can avoid an argument over which side of the family we spend Christmas with.
Real tree or artificial?
If real, how big a tree should we get?
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Or, more specifically, how big a tree can I carry?
After all of this – and only after all of this – will I want to know how to dispose of Christmas past.
Thinking about that is kind of depressing. I emphasizes how fleeting is what we do.
There are some things we want to go by quickly.
But, holidays are not among them. We want good times to linger, to stay. Not Christmas is coming, Christmas is here, Christmas is over. Next.
So, I’ll put Oak Park’s newsletter aside until I’m done with Christmas. Then, I’ll read about tree disposal.
What I need now are some ideas for celebrating Thanksgiving.
Paul Sassone is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.