Orders quickly become back orders — a frustration around gift giving in 2021. Just one more interruption to our already precarious lives. Shopping local is always my preferred option, but there are times when orders need to be placed.
Perceived supply chain problems have been in the news for weeks, even months, warning us to buy now to avoid any inconvenience or holiday disappointments. What? Late Christmas presents? Is February the new December?
We are buying “things” — items that comfort, must haves — an activity that has often felt like a saving grace during the pandemic, something to do when we couldn’t do many of our favorite social activities. We haven’t been able to control much else in recent history so why not surround ourselves with things we want. We are deserving, right?
But for how long does that “feel good” feeling truly last?
We have gotten comfortable from the comfort of our homes to shop, order groceries, restaurant meals, etc. Restaurants have cleverly contracted with ride-sharing services to aid with deliveries. Heck, I can order a decadent and calorie-laden ice cream sundae from my daughter’s home outside of Boston and be eating that first sugar-filled spoonful within minutes. Do I “need” it? Of course not. It’s a comfort.
The pandemic has created a wellspring of ingenuity. Phone apps and laptops allow for fingertip shopping. Manicures are not required as we can shop round the clock from the privacy of our homes.
The weight of consumerism has plagued me quite a bit lately. The lure of a “Black Friday” or “Cyber Monday” discount feels just too good to pass up in a quest to find that perfect “thing” for a friend or loved one. For what feels like years now the few vehicles that have occasioned up our long, windy driveway have been delivering parcels — Amazon, FedEx, DHL, the U.S. Postal Service.
On Dec. 10, in Mayfield, Ky., employees at the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory were working overnight an shift to meet holiday demand. Mothers, sisters, daughters, girlfriends, husbands, fathers, boyfriends, brothers. A community within a community. I am certain that when the darkness closed in and the tornado’s wind made its terrifying presence known, no one was saying “Damn, I can’t believe my gift won’t be delivered by Christmas.”
Nature knows no boundaries. No borders either. Her voice was certainly heard over a 250-mile path of destruction that stretched through Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky. The images of lives shredded and destroyed are heart breaking.
An old family photograph from a home in Kentucky was carried by the tornado 150 miles to Indiana — the distance from Pomfret to Boston. Astounding. One imagines that shoes, blankets, dishes and more made similar flights, but it is the photograph that makes us take notice. That record and reminder of who we are. The human connection grabs our attention and our heartstrings when we see the tangible images of a family. Tragedy and the human toll blanketed the debris of “things.”
We are in this together, so why aren’t we taking better care of one another?
Elizabeth Ricketson lives in South Pomfret