What values are surfacing at the holidays? Is the economy a factor?

Our values become clear when we are forced to make tough choices. In good economic times, consumerism can overtake the meaning of the holiday season. But in dire times like ours – where over 500,000 jobs were lost in November – we are forced to make choices.
    What values are guiding your decisions right now?
    Congress now appears a paragon of frugality, reluctantly agreeing to give Detroit’s Big Three just enough money for them to limp into the New Year and the Obama-led era. I wish Congress had been just as frugal with US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, instead of giving him the holiday gift of a huge blank check.
    A few days ago, my son and I were in Tree Town Toys, a store in Ann Arbor, buying a gift for a birthday of one of his classmates. I asked the store owner how the season had been so far, given the economy.
    I expressed my surprise when she said sales were strong. It seemed that parents were cutting back on gifts for one another, she explained, but not for their children – a clear example of value priorities.
    I realized that my wife and I had, implicitly, made the same choice this year. And we are the lucky ones. For many people in Michigan, and in the nation, the choice isn’t children versus parents for Christmas. It’s just surviving. Even coal in the stocking would be a useful gift.
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