Carol and I tried to go to the movies yesterday, the day after Christmas Day, - (a BIG mistake). EVERYONE was out on the road to go to the mall. We got off to an early start but soon joined the parking lot that was the trail to the parking building where no matter which way we turned we joined another line.  Needless to say, there were no parking spaces and we gave it up to go home and see movies on the TV.

This experience is emblematic of the acquisition gene that seems to be swollen and burdensome to a vast majority of people at this time of year.  The advertisers are of great help for they make you want what they lay out in front of you in all the newspapers, flyers and TV promotions.  If it is new or has an original twist you will most certainly want to acquire it.  How you will use it or keep it or treasure it are questions most of us know are silly.  We soon will tire of what we wanted so badly that we spent far too much money on, well - just buying something.

Humans and a few curious animals are acquisitive creatures.  Magpies are one and some squirrel types squirrel things away in their nests or homes.  They, too, are attracted by bright colors and shiny objects.  I know that I, as well as you, are attracted to shiny, bright bigger and more expensive things than those which caught our attention over the last year from the last big event which comes at this time of every year.

I have no facts and figures but I am willing to bet that we Americans spent more on this holiday than we did on the war in Iraq.  We certainly acted as though there was no war, no obligations of leadership in the rest of the world of unrest and as if there were no bills to pay until 2007.  Our behavior is one of the pack rat, another type of acquisitive creature.  While a significant portion of the population of towns hit by hurricanes sift through what used to be their prime acquisitions, the rest of us perform in an orgy of buying – just to get the newest and the more expensive version than the last time.

This is not to say that acquisition is bad. There are some old sayings that urge one to think about acquiring too much while others have too little. There is also the reminder that in a time of plenty, a time might follow when acquisition is impossible for there is no more.  Nature provided that corrective with its bumper crop years and years of famine.  A certain Joseph in Egypt saw this three thousand years ago. You might as well get on with your acquisitive habits for tomorrow may be the start of a time of privation.