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By Michael Mell, ASTC
It
seems the holiday buying season starts earlier and earlier. “Black Friday,”
the day after Thanksgiving, has been the unofficial start of the gift-buying
season, when price-minded shoppers mob department stores in search of sales
and markdowns. If Wal-Mart has moved its holiday sales season start to the
beginning of November, can other stores be far behind?
New Hampshire, long the holder of the earliest
presidential primary election, is now joined and even superseded by other
states seeking the cachet of holding the “first” primary. Followed
logically, if not absurdly, this trend will lead us full circle to Black
Friday and the lonely state of New Hampshire. Let’s save ourselves the
cultural angst of trying to do more, sooner and before the next guy, and
keep the winter holiday season where it is.
I would argue that, regardless of one’s beliefs, the
end of the yearly cycle has always been a time for celebration. The harvest
is in, stores laid by and the fields plowed under for a winter’s sleep.
Well, maybe I’m a few thousand years out of date for most people, but the
changing seasons do bring physical and emotional responses in people — at
least those of us that live in temperate climes. Even today’s urban dwellers
seem to find a satisfaction in the year’s completion and anticipation for
the New Year to come. In many cultures this is expressed in a desire to
share one’s bounty with family and friends and the giving of gifts.
A Meaningful
Gift
I will not dwell on the commercialization of the holiday season that seems
to increasingly overwhelm our lives, or whether it is “good” or “bad” or
just “is.” I would like us to think about the old maxim that, “It is better
to give than to receive.” Often uttered by parents in an effort to appease
disgruntled children, it has been rendered ineffective, like some
antibiotics, by unthinking overuse.
Children, selfish beasties that they are, don’t believe
it for a minute, and in the face of this reaction, most parents probably
find it difficult to believe themselves. Toys, books, clothes, computers,
games, things, things, things are what we crave, and when we finally open
the box to see our heart’s desire we are happy for awhile — and then we
start to want something else, and all previous gifts and desires fade in
comparison.
Lest I come across as too much of a Scrooge, let me
state for the record that I enjoy the holiday season and am happy to receive
a gift — any kind of gift. Fortunately, by the time this is published, the
holidays are still upon us and this hint for my kids won’t be too late. I
would still, however bemoan the focus on only giving things. As those of us
in our profession know, attending a performance not only provides the
attributes of a gift — anticipation and elation — but also an experience
that can last for many years.
For myself and probably many of you, attendance at a
Nutcracker, the Messiah or some other traditional holiday performance was a
transforming experience that continues to resonate. It is an essential part
of who we are and how we view the world, no matter what aspect of the
business we find ourselves in or even if we were to change careers.
Those of you who have been reading my columns in
Facility Manager have, no doubt, noticed my constant focus that the
performing arts, and indeed all the arts, should be an important and
integral part of everyone’s life. Other of life’s “things” bring a constant
pressure against this, but it is a way we can truly change the world. This
is the gift I would like to give to my children, family, friends and
colleagues; one where, I believe, it can truly be better to give than to
receive.
fm
Michael Mell,
ASTC, is the president of Theater Design Inc., a firm specializing the
planning and design of performing arts facilities. He is also the author of
Building Better Theaters and may be reached via his Web site,
www.theaterdesigninc.com.
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