a powerfully true statement said in an incredibly sad way

i just saw a toys r us commercial that ended with the following statement that saddens me:

the only thing better than seeing joy on a child’s face is knowing that you put it there

in my opinion, the statement is very true. seeing joy on your child’s face and knowing that you were able to produce that joy is amazingly pleasing. just consider how hard people will work to produce a smile on the face of an infant. there is an immense sense of pride that comes from being the one who is able to bring a smile to a child’s face. i’m not sadden my the statement in and of itself because i agree with what it is saying.

what saddens me is the connection made between producing joy merely by buying something for the child. the whole commercial is about waking up early so that you can be the first to toys r us to buy the most sought after toys first. the implication is that if you rush to toys r us and obtain the most sought after toys then you will be able to produce joy within your child.

what a bunch of baloney.

toys don’t last and neither do the smiles that they produce. of course, toys r us isn’t going to tell anybody that. nope, toys r us (and walmart, target, etc) are going to try and convince people that buying things will bring the joy that parents want their children to have.

i saw a ton of smiles on the faces of my boys today and it had nothing to do with buying anything. instead, it involved having a b b gun shooting competition and involving them in a family wide game of trivial pursuit. my kids will remember this day for the rest of their lives. yet, toys r us wants us to think that buying something is what is most important.

don’t swallow the lie.

a side note
i watched the iron chef tonight for the first time in over a year. i had forgotten how much i loved this show. it is the wwe of the cooking world. i laugh just thinking about it. whose cuisine shall reign supreme?

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