Christmas Stole my News Items!

The time of Christmas is obviously upon us. Programmers and bloggers all over the world are putting down their text editors, meaning there’s no news for us to report on (unless you want to talk about yet another set of rumours about the Apple tablet). Still, I couldn’t let this day go by without a story.

I just got home from a short trip to the super market, to get some stock built up to survive the coming two days when everything’s closed. Living in a small town in the middle of nowhere, there’s none of the Christmas rush of the city or big shopping malls – one of the reasons I actually prefer living in such a small town.

Anyway, as I was walking home, carefully minding my step since the partially melted and then re-frozen snow is extremely slippery, I overheard two people, who were talking quite loudly. I think they were a mother and daughter, and it turned out they were arguing – loudly and pretty aggressively. They were walking in front of the Nieuwe Ursula Church. On Christmas eve.

The irony certainly wasn’t lost on me.

Of course, we here on the web, and OSNews in particular, have more or less made a habit out of arguing over things that don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Whether you prefer Mac OS X or Windows, this preference is not going to change or affect the world in any way. All our discussions are fleeting.

Now that it’s Christmas eve (in my time zone at least), it’s time to set aside our differences for the coming two days and just accept that we all use and prefer different things, and that maybe, just maybe, that’s exactly our strength; that maybe, just maybe, it’s something we ought to cherish, instead of bickering over it.

I would like to wish you all, on behalf of the entire crew, a very, very merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you might (or might not) celebrate. Please, leave your computer for what it is, and spend as much time as you can with your family, friends, and loved ones – because just like our discussions, life is fleeting.

As a final gift to you, here is Fiona Apple’s rendition of Sally’s Song from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. It was part of a special edition of the film’s soundtrack, released in 2006. Enjoy.

22 Comments

  1. 2009-12-24 5:17 pm
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