Now that my favorite holiday has passed, it seems all eyes are turned to that cultural juggernaut of Dec. 25. The first fatality is already in. A temporary Wal-Mart worker was trampled by a Black Friday crowd drunk on Christmas’ materialistic fervor. This incident is all too representative of the gift-oriented culture that has undermined the spirit of good will and made me despise the holiday season.

This is a culture that I, along with most middle-class children in America, participated in for most of my life. Too often, the kids of our nation are brought up to believe that Christmas is the time of year when their parents (or Santa Claus) owe them presents. The focus stays on receiving gifts, rather than giving them. And their parents oblige, lining up at stores much too early with the hopes of buying their children gifts more expensive than their budgets can allow. No child wants to receive gifts less impressive than the gifts the Joneses’ kid gets, and no parent wants to allow that to happen, even if the Joneses have twice their personal income.

How much money, time and energy is expended to buy silly toys that often aren’t played with past New Year’s Day?

Hopefully, most of us, being college students, are past the point where we expect extravagant gifts from our parents. I would even expect most Ohio State students to say that they enjoy giving gifts more than receiving them. The problem is that we generally give to friends and family and boyfriends or girlfriends; people that generally don’t need anything material from us or anyone else. Often the neediest in our society go overlooked. Now, I am not saying that we should stop giving gifts to those we care about most, but we should remember to think about those most in need during the holidays.

The opportunities to give to those who need more than most are not hard to find. There are, of course, Salvation Army bell-ringers at every shopping center and it seems that a great portion of the student organizations on campus have some sort of donation to go to those in need. Cutting back just a little on your holiday shopping and donating instead to charitable organizations is something almost everyone here can do.

Giving money is great. What I have found, however, is that giving time can better benefit both the receiver and yourself. By donating your time, you can become much more invested in the plight of others, find new friends and make solid contacts for helping, even after the holidays are over. If you, like me, are stranded in Columbus this winter break, there are plenty of opportunities to help. The Salvation Army is a great organization, active in Columbus, that is always looking for new volunteers. A quick Google search can help you find dozens of other opportunities to help.

There are many things I like about Christmas: the music, the weather and, of course, the food. But as long as we as a nation have our eyes focused on catalogues, sales and presents, Christmas will never be a great holiday. This year, let us try to change what Christmas means in America.

Travis Schulze is a senior in international relations. He can be reached at [email protected].