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David Schechter's avatar

The Talmud argues that men must attend synagogue on the Sabbath (at least that often) so that they are aware of the passage of time. Otherwise men are likely to assume that things will go on forever as they are today. It is an observation that we are all naturally short-sighted and certainly not unique to Judiasm. For this reason, we artificially divide up time by creating stopping points. Hallmark Holidays are appealing to the vast majority of people because they feel good. Why do they feel good? Because like other patterns we create in our culture, they create meaningfulness in our lives. Claude Shannon, while at Bell Labs, co-created Communications Theory. It states that meaning is created as the difference between signal and noise. Applied to our lives, if we just act continuously in the moment without reflection or pause, we would lead a noisy life in Shannon's terminology. By interrupting our lives with moments of reflection, each of which can be judged artificial, we create a pattern (a signal) which offers the opportunity to believe there is meaning in our living. As humans who are adept at language, we have a strong psychological drive, a need for meaningfulness in our lives. Strange as it may seem Hallmark Holidays are satisfying and popular for that reason. It is the same reason we go to church, or synagogue, or the mosque, or the Hindu Temple, or practice yoga, or work out regularly, etc etc. The need for repetitive behavior is built into human nature. Hallmark recognizes that need and gets paid well for satisfying it.

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