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Through My Eyes

Through My Eyes

Author: Kasia Yoko
Date: 2013-11-08
With just seven Saturdays till Christmas I am dreading the Festive rush. Frankly I am dreaming of exotic coconut palm islands somewhere far East in some Muslim country where Christmas means a day off work and a picnic on the beach.

Here at home the retailers are preparing for the consumerism madness. The majestic decorations are up and the tunes are blaring, their bells jingling. On the global scene, the recently launched Grand Theft Auto 5, the violent video game has launched and even though it's not even Christmas it sold over 29million units on its first day generating $1.75 billion (which converts roughly to R17.76 Billion). 

Personally I detest computer games and nobody knows better than my children, who have seen me throwing the Xboxes out the windows when I noticed that they were not nice to each other while playing (Incidentally the Xbox was a generous Christmas gift from my brother, who loves nothing more than a day playing his favourite games). 

Isn't it sad that billions of people world wide are still dying of hunger and we turn our backs on poverty, generating record sales figures in just one day, on a video game that turns players into terrorists and assassins and shows bodies exploding and blood spewing.

The book I am presently reading is 'Betrayal - the life and lies of Bernie Madoff' by Andrew Kirtzman. Madoff is the Ponzi scheme mastermind who stole billions of dollars from his greedy investors. I marvel at Bernie's ability to con the most financially savvy nation in the world, the Jews, from their billions. 

Bernie's success was based on nothing more than human greed. Every one of his investors knew that it was impossible to show such high returns on investments, but they chose to turn a blind eye and saw only the moola.
The more I read about Bernie, the more I loathe him. He represents so much that is wrong with the world today. I do understand that he was just a catalyst but he was so clever at the way he developed this method of playing the kingpin.

In my years I have met plenty megalomaniacs. They are because they have. Most often the money defines them - they are all powerful and almighty; with one blow they can wipe you off the face of the earth - you know who I am talking about, you have seen them too, there's probably one in your family. Sadly {NOT} they mostly die of some mangy incurable liver failure - a common ailment when one ODs on foie gras and VeuveClicquot.

As we get closer to Christmas lets think how we can make people around us happyhow we can make a difference in others' lives, not with money and expensive gifts but with love, respect and appreciation. After all wealth has so many meanings and only one defines your bank balance.

Have a happy week!