I'm having a problem with gadgets....

....so you cannot watch television, read a paper, listen to a radio, etc.....

....without hearing about all the gadgets that people "have to have" this Christmas, you know, the "must-have" best sellers.

Cell phones.
Cell phones with cameras.
Cell phones with mp3 capabilities.
Cell phones with video capabilities.
XBox.
XBox360.
XBox, version 2009, which swallows your children inside the actual machine. (J/K)
PS2
PSP
Regular deodorant. (Sorry, brief lapse...)
Digital Cameras of all sorts.
IPods.
IPod Nano's.

You get the idea.

Millions and millions and millions of dollars being spent on all these "toys" (which is really what they are) this Christmas.

I mean, how do you increase work productivity 25 percent with a cell phone with video? No, you'll decrease it while you're caught up watching soaps, the NFL, Desperate Househusbands, whatever.

Then, I think of the following....

...read the following from the Tottenham, Wood Green, and Edmonton Journal in Great Britain, and see what some eight and nine year olds are thinking about as the holiday season approaches...


Pupils bake charity treat
nlnews@archant.co.uk
16 November 2005
KIND-hearted pupils from Coleridge Primary School cooked up a fundraising treat for children in Niger, in Western Africa.

Year four youngsters from in the school in Crescent Road baked and sold biscuits to sell at school - and made a fantastic £115.72 in just 15 minutes.

Here, in their own words, two pupils tell the story of their charity challenge.

"Brilliant Cakes, brilliant money - cash, cash, cash!" is the story from James Barth, who writes:

A class of eight and nine-year-olds raised more than £100 in less than 20 minutes in Coleridge Primary School for Niger famine relief and they have worked a whole week for this special occasion.

In Niger, 35 per cent of children die before the age of five, so you could call them lifesavers.

James, of 4N, said: "It was fun - and delicious after all the work."

Classmate Eve Aspinall made the following report:

Coleridge Primary School held a biscuit sale last Friday. They raised a whopping £116 to send to the Niger Famine Appeal/Unicef.

Cookies, biscuits, cake and more have been sold on this special day. In Niger, 35 out of 100 die before the age of five.

Eight and nine-year-olds were making biscuits all week, trying to stop malaria from spreading in Niger. "Someone's gotta be there for them," Eve reports, sitting at her desk.


So, while kids in America (and MANY other countries) get whiny about not having the latest Tigger or Bratz doll, video game, whatever....think about these kids. More importantly, think about the kids they helped.

Many of them have no idea what a Christmas is like we do. And, sadly, many of them won't see many of them either.

Here's a place for more hope:

Socialist? NO I AM NOT! Does it make logical sense to take some of our energies and resources and find a better way to solve disease and famine rather than pour and pour it out on getting a slimmer IPod that can handle a thousand more songs? Heck, do you KNOW ANYONE who actually listens to a 1,000-song rotation??

It's just not sitting well with me this year. I want shorts, golf shirts, a decent pair of tennis shoes, and a few 80s CD's.

If I shop carefully, $75, maybe $90. Tops.

I'm not gloating. I gotta save money!! I'm leaving a job, remember???