Winter Recess Reflection

For the past ten days, I've done primarily two things: play pool and stayed at home. During the first half of break, every other day I would meet up with my friends and go to the Billiards. After several of days, we got bored of pool and instead we went to play handball. Eventually that led half of us (me being one of them) to catch a cold and get sick, therefore having to stay home for the next couple of days. The time I spent at home went by really fast, being that I didn't do much besides watched a whole bunch of Chinese drama. I was just letting all my time being sucked into various nonproductive activities, even though I was aware and even though I had obligations, such as homework, to fulfill. Even though it's the holidays, it has been a pretty ordinary week for me. I am still wasting time like usual, and doing the same things I would do on any ordinary day that we have off.

During Christmas, nothing in particular happened for me because it was the holiday where all the Christians celebrate "the birth of Jesus." While most of America was spending time with their families and exchanging gifts, my friends and I were in Soho Billiards, just like most of the other days in that week. December 25th is pretty much a normal day for me and my friends. Even so, Christmas does affect our family in some ways because on that night, my family gathered together to eat dinner. Eating with your family on Christmas is one of the many norms in America, so instead of the "holiday spirit" being the reason why we had dinner together, it was because it is part of the lifestyle here in America.

Although it is not celebrated in my family, I have noticed that Christmas ritual is almost a reflection of the AWOL. During the holidays, gifts are exchanged throughout America. This contributes to my previous statement about the AWOL on the eBay blog. Most Americans expect to receive gifts from their friends and family. The person receiving the present(s)does not earn the gifts and has not done anything to deserve the present. Through this one aspect of Christmas, the AWOL is being rewarded and wanting to be rewarded for absolutely nothing. Most people would disagree with this and instead say that presents are given because of the holiday spirit. This also demonstrates that the AWOL is filled with lies. People often fool the people around them and themselves in order to have a reasoning for doing what they do and to feel good about it.

The holidays revealed to us that reasoning plays a big role in the AWOL. As mentioned before, it makes the Americans have a sense of satisfication in their actions. In addition, it also takes away some duties from the Americans. During the holidays, people have a reason to gather with their families, exchange gifts, etc. It's almost as though the holidays and the family gatherings require each other. So without the holiday occasion, there is no need to spend time with your family and to show appreciation for each other (through materialistic goods). If there is no obligation for a specific action, it is very typical in the AWOL that it will not happen. Even though it appears that Americans require justification for everything we do, it is not always the case. While we do need a reason to: go to school, do our homework, go to work, take care of our family, etc., we do not need/know the reason why we: play video games, watch t.v., etc. It almost seems like in the AWOL, things that are considered as our obligations we require a purpose of fulfilling it, but when it comes to something that is almost trivial, we make it our top priority without any sort of reason.