Every
year at Christmas there are certain gifts that are all the rage. For whatever reason, they are in extreme
demand and equally short supply. Into
this vacuum comes the cheap knock-off; it looks like the real thing, it is
available and affordable, but it is of inferior quality and in some cases it can
be dangerous.
It
seems that nothing is exempt from the knock-off artist. Consider these examples:
·
Toy sales are big at Christmas and that means the potential market for
counterfeit toys is rich. (See the movie
Jingle all the Way) This past November authorities in Savannah
confiscated 70,000 dollars worth of counterfeit toys that were headed for an
Atlanta suburb. Some of these toys were
potentially dangerous; all of them were of inferior quality.
·
Electronic knock-offs are common all year round, but especially at
Christmas. EKO’s are so common that NASA
has created a program to identify bogus electronics to prevent them from
getting into the NASA supply. A multi-million
dollar satellite going down over a few cheap chips is not an option.
·
Fashion is a big market for cheap knock-offs. From the flood of designer jeans in the 70’s
to ultra high-end dresses today knock-offs can be very appealing. Who wouldn’t want to give a $7,000 Rolex Submariner
Watch, which you purchased for $20? If
you happen to go to Thailand you can visit the Museum of Counterfeit Goods.
I wonder if this is an educational institution or an R & D facility.
·
Medication is big business for the fakers. In some places up to 30% of antibiotics and a
full half of antimalarial drugs are fake.
While a bigger problem in the third world than the U.S., we have our
share of phony drugs.
·
Food products are faked and many times we never know it. In 2008, Chinese-produced milk was infused
with melamine resulting in the death of six children. Catfish is sold as Grouper, Tilapia sold as
Red fish and soybean oil sold as Extra Virgin olive oil. During one auction at Christie’s, it was
discovered that 106 out of 107 bottles of wine were fakes.
When
it comes to counterfeits the most dangerous we face at this time of year is the
counterfeit Christmas.
Christmas
is about Family.
Christmas
is the joy of giving.
Christmas
is the joy of getting.
Christmas
is for celebration without any designation of what is celebrated.
Several
years ago my family had season passes to Silver
Springs Park, one of the great Florida tourist traps. During the winter season the park had fewer
visitors, so they hosted special events to heighten attendance. One of these was a Christmas concert series
with about a half dozen choirs and musical groups performing music of the
season. Under a canopy of Florida Live
Oaks strung with white Christmas lights and in temperatures dipping into the
chilly upper 60’s (bitterly cold for central Florida) it was designed to be a
beautiful and heart-warming evening.
Except for one cheap knock-off.
A
school performed a selection of songs they called, “Have a Cool Yule”. The boys wore matching Polo shirts and dark sunglasses,
the girls wore Santa or elf costumes with hems well above the mid thigh and all
the students wore Santa hats. They sang
a number of secular holiday songs, all arranged with a fast tempo and a heavy
beat to aid their choreography. The
selection seemed to express that this was the season to fan the flames of greed,
or romance, or infatuation, or perhaps lust.
The music was well rehearsed and well sung, but when their set was over
there was no joy. There was no purpose
to the season; it was a façade wrapped around a wisp, insulating a farce. That
concert broke my heart and angered me.
In The Last Battle the dwarves have been
thrown into a stable and from there they could go to the great, free, open
country, but they huddle in the straw and manure. There, Aslan spreads for them a glorious
banquet of all the finest of foods and drinks, but they perceive it only as a
bit of a turnip or the leaf of a cabbage.
Having the potential for all, they settle for little. In this Holy season, let us never eat a turnip
off a stable floor rather than the banquet of our King. May we never exchange the Glory of Christmas
for something as rank and small as a Cool Yule.
May
God Bless you with a heart that seeks, eyes that look for, and ears that listen
to the new chapter that began in the Nativity of our Lord Jesus.
Merry
Christmas
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