Madam, - This is a cry from the heart. It is the last week of September - and for at least two weeks now Christmas decorations have been on sale at a leading Grafton Street store. Other stores and shopping centres will shortly follow suit.
Sad experience tells me that soon Christmas music will accompany us on our daily and weekly trawls along supermarket shelves, our search for clothes and other necessities.
We are galloping away ahead of ourselves to a date almost three months in the future. The precious closing weeks of autumn, Hallowe'en, the overtures of winter - all of this, moment by moment, day by day, in all its present meaning has yet to come, has yet to be lived.
We are caught in the insatiable digestive system of a consumer monster that chews the precious moments of our lives and spews them to the wind. I want to have peace to be a human being who lives in the present moment.
I used to love the mystery and the magic of Christmas when it began in December. I used to love the search for gifts in shops suddenly lit for the season. I used to listen for the words and meanings of the familiar carols and songs that tugged at my heart.
How tawdry is tinsel after three months of hard sell? How false is glitter? What is Christmas, anyway? - Yours, etc.,
CARMEL GRIMLEY,
Manor Rise,
Dublin 16.