"WAITING FOR CHRISTMAS"
Monologue by D. M. Larson
(ALEX has several small new gadgets set out and takes out a hammer or bat and smashes one)
ALEX
So this what this holiday is about now.
Buying (smash another one)
Spending (smash another one)
Getting (smashes another one)
Greed (smash another one)
You're all just being manipulated by corporate overlords who play with your emotions - does this little gadget really matter?
(Smashes another one)
Christmas should about helping others. It's the day an innkeeper helped a homeless pregnant woman about to have a baby. And then there's Hanukkah - it should be about celebrating miracles. But everything became about this.
(Smashes another one)
People should still focus on spending time with family, friends, and the ones they love. That’s what the holidays should be about.
Instead we spend it in pursuit of the best deal on something meaningless that we’ll just toss aside in a year for something better. I’m tired of being tossed aside. I’m tired of being less important than a gadget. I want our family and friends and loved ones to be important again. I want people to matter. If things keep going they way they are going, then we’ll all end up alone with nothing but this junk to keep us company.
(Smashes last one)
So go home. There are no more toys or gadgets. Or better yet, take some of that money you were going to waste on this thing that you already have an older version of - and give it to the bell ringer so they can help people in need who can’t even afford to eat let alone buy some useless gadget that they’ll hate in a year because it’s never good enough and never new enough and never really makes them happy. I never could make my family happy enough. Nothing I would buy was ever right for them. Or they'd like it for 5 seconds and then toss it aside wanting more. That's what this consumeristic holiday season did to my family. I’m sick of it. I'm sick of my people caring more about things than each other.
END OF MONOLOGUE
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For permission to use this play, contact doug@freedrama.net (please include the title "Waiting for Christmas" in your request).