It is the beginning of the holiday season this week – officially starting on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. This year, the celebration of Thanksgiving is a little later than usual and this will result in merchants being a little more anxious to get as many holiday sales as they can, as quickly as they can, before Christmas is upon us. While we usually think of holiday sales and discounts to increase retail sales, there is one place in the country where the trend is going the opposite direction – and that city? San Fransisco…
Yep, it seems that there are many young wealthy people who are working at Google, Yahoo, Apple and other companies that have a presence in the San Fransisco Bay area. And they are requesting – no, demanding – top end services. They want to ride buses with internet and have the best possible places to eat and engage one another. Along with all the other things that these younger folks are interested in having, they seem to have a penchant for breakfast – and that includes toast that runs $3 per order.
Now I must say, I probably wouldn’t go to a place that has $3 toast, but that seems to be exactly the point. By driving prices up, many people stay away from these high end locations – just what these young high roller success stories want to have happen. That way, by paying outrageous prices for ordinary stuff, they have the prime places all to themselves.
This is creating something of an interesting backlash. The people who have been frequenting these establishments are annoyed that they are being driven out of the places by these “nouveau riche.” So, in a world where the norm is to push for bargains and vote with your wallet, quite the opposite is happening in San Fransisco. Space is at a premium and there are more than enough people who are willing to pay for the services they so desperately want – and I am sure, in their minds, deserve.
While many people in the tech and high growth sectors are elated with this new paradigm shift, I find it quite sad. After all, these restaurants and other companies have been in business for years serving a loyal following. Now, these patrons who have withstood the test of time are being overthrown and they just don’t like it. It’s kind of like groups of people who started country clubs long ago and have remained loyal for decades. The clubs are enhancing their services, upgrading their clubhouses and are now so expensive that the original members can no longer afford to belong to the clubs that they started and supported for years. How sad…
It’s too bad that the world has come to this point. In the first century, at the beginning of the church in Acts 2, we are told that the behavior of the people was quite different from what we see in San Fransisco. The people shared together and gave everything that they had to each other – share and share alike. The verse for this evening is from Acts 2:44-47, “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.”
It’s difficult to believe that something like this could happen today. Everybody seems to be so concerned with their own place in society that many people don’t care anymore about sharing. My encouragement this evening is that God would like us to be mindful of our fellow human beings and do everything we can to share with those less fortunate. This is particularly important during this holiday season. My prayer is that you will consider acts of generosity this December and that you will be grateful for all that we have been given this year – even if it has been a difficult year in your life. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…