Whatever spin you put on about how Christmas is about family, there’s no getting away from the fact that, sure, it’s also a lot about receiving presents. Maybe some new pyjamas, a pair of Topshop shoes you couldn’t justify getting yourself, more body wash than you are ever going to need. If you’re really lucky, you might get something more expensive – the new iPhone 5S; a laptop. Whoever bought each present has worked hard to pick them and spent actual money on them, a concept that’s difficult to understand as a student desperately waiting for the January loan. And, luckily, the majority of us know how many thank-yous are needed for each present. You’re grateful whatever you get. Right?
On Christmas Day, social media sites such as Twitter and Tumblr were subjected to an onslaught of spoilt teenagers who were very far from being appreciative of their presents. Tweets such as ‘So f***ing p****d off, my mum got me an iPhone 5 when I asked for an iPhone 5s, f***ing stupid b**ch ruined my Christmas’ were a common sight, young girls and boys who have clearly never had to learn that polite face when someone gives you a present that you really aren’t impressed by. One girl, having been given purple instead of pink headphones, goes so far as to write about her Mum: ‘I hate you and this family.’ Sure, maybe she just reeeeeeally hates the colour purple, but hatred for your whole family seems a little harsh.
If you’re struggling to understand how humanity can have bred people that think it’s okay to refer to a new MacBook Air (cost: a measly £1000) as ‘BULLSH*T’, rest assured, you’re not the only one. Bewildered tweeters responded with a sarcastic #worstchristmasever trend, mocking the teenagers who complained that their iPhone was gold and not white. It is a relief to know that the majority of people online on Christmas Day were not this ungrateful and that the poor gold iPhone users were made a laughing stock.
But their comments go further than just offending poor Mum who bought that gift, who probably didn’t even realise there was a difference between an iPhone 5 and an iPhone 5S. There’s being disappointed, and then there’s hating on your entire family. That’s just ungrateful. And it’s difficult to accept their ungratefulness when there are those in the world whose Christmas Days were much, much worse than receiving a Kindle Fire instead of an iPad.
In the days leading up to Christmas Day, a crisis broke out across South Sudan, in which thousands were killed, the atrocities still continuing on the 25th December. “Tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands” were without shelter and food and had loved ones who had either been killed or were missing. In India on Christmas Eve, a 21 year old woman, trying to visit friends, was brutally raped multiple times by two separate gangs before being taken to hospital. And all across the Atlantic flights were cancelled, 62 from Gatwick alone on Christmas Eve, meaning that many people were unable to get home to their families. Alone, isolated, tired and scared on Christmas Day. #worstchristmasever? Maybe.
Showing some gratitude is not hard, especially when chances are you live a very nice life, given that you’ve received a phone worth £600 for Christmas. So instead of tweeting ‘Actually want to kill myself with what I got,’ maybe make it your New Year’s resolution to appreciate what you have a little more. Between the choice of being trapped in another country on Christmas Day, possibly one where thousands of people have been killed in the last ten days, and being given a measly £100 … Well, I think I know what I’d choose.
Sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25513572
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-25527401
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-25560888
Edited by Sheetal Mistry