All I want for Christmas is a revolution

Every year my family asks me to make a list of things I want for the holidays. As an anti-capitalist, this tradition never fails to be telling of my application of politics to personal life. No matter how much my conscience aches, I scrawl out a list of the sweatshop-free sneakers, recently released albums and books my inner-consumer craves.

Regardless of what I put on that list this year, my Christmas wishes can be summarized in one word. All I want for Christmas this year is a revolution. That's right, folks, I have sugar plum fairies dancing in my head and my mythical friends have taken their holiday jig to the streets.

I have grown tired of hearing Americans fuss about staying svelte, surrounded in rich holiday food while entire populations of the Global South are starving. I am through watching our boys in the sand chasing ghosts of bin Laden and al Zarqawi, mowing down civilians right and left on Iraqi and Afghan lands. It is exhausting to think of the American children asking for sweatshop-made GI Joes or toy guns in their stockings while the children of Palestine, El Salvador, Sudan and so many other countries have to walk to school facing real gun barrels right and left.

Holidays should not be a time for twisted irony. You and I can stop this. We can quit sacrificing our humanity in order to be comfortable. We can quit permitting atrocities. We can rise together and watch the status quo fall like winter snow. Consider this our Christmas gift to the world.

First off, we can quit being wasteful. I do not just mean we should put our Coke cans in the recycle bin. I mean we should quit accumulating and consuming things we don't really need until every one has what they need. Let's start off with meat. According to John Robbins, author of "Food Revolution," 22 pounds of grain are required to produce one pound of edible animal flesh. It is sickening to think that the resources required to produce a 10-pound ham could have made 110 pounds worth of rice, bread or pasta. The United Nations Report on Human Development shows that 20 percent of the Global South is starving to death. Until that number changes, let's lay off the cloven hoof and opt for barley pilaf.

Next, we can quit funding the pain of others. Slave laborers in Seirra Leone mining diamonds for DeBeers would probably be quite happy to have chestnuts roasting on an open fire rather than nursing

amputated wounds in a diamond mine come the 25th of December. While we don't speak the same language, I am pretty darn sure our rabbit and mink friends would wish Americans a Merry Christmas if we quit using their skin to make tacky coats. We could make this a reality just by being conscious about what we are supporting. After all, there wouldn't be blood diamonds if there was no demand for such decadent and useless items in American markets.

There is more, too. We can stop our government's murder of our brothers and sisters in other countries. While most folks in Iraq may practice Islam, I reckon they would love to see the theories of love and peace promoted by Jesus put into action with a total withdrawal of all troops, planes and tanks from their homes come Christmas morning.

We will probably have to take some risks and make demands against the government that have never been seen before. For example, we may have to wrap the Pentagon in "crime scene" tape and use our bodies to block Air Force bases. Regardless, we could do something amazing.

Doing the right thing could be good for us, too. Call me crazy, but I think we could all sleep a little easier knowing that the next day, no one would have to see their loved ones fall to the ground riddled with bullets or disease. Our meals could be a bit more enjoyable if we knew that no one in the world would have to go to bed hungry. We could quit prioritizing the lives of one being over others, be they human or animal. We could quit lying in our history books. We could show each other that we care in ways other than buying love. We could revolutionize humanity.

I know this column will get a dozen responses dubbing me a utopian lunatic. All I can say is that this dream sure sounds more romantic than reality, does it not? Changing the world will take some work, but I cannot think of a better gift to offer to the world during this time of peace and caring than to make this holiday a merry one for all.