Well, we all knew it would finally happen. Black Friday would become part of Thanksgiving. To hell with family and friends, buy, buy, buy!!! This year Target will open at midnight Thanksgiving night, with employees having to be in by 11 pm. Black Friday specials will start online as early as Thanksgiving day--9 pm was the earliest I could find so far. Consumer agencies and retail companies, especially the retail companies, are arguing that 1/3, yes people one-third, of us want to shop on Thanksgiving. Forget about how stuffed most of us are, forget about football, forget about hanging out with the family in front of the fire talking about what we're thankful for. It's all about the almighty dollar in an economy like this and nothing is more about money than the holidays that we show how much we care for our friends and family. We all like to feel good about good deals--especially since lately most of us feel ripped off every day, at the gas pump, for example. But here's the question: have we gone too far when Thanksgiving is now Black Thanksgiving?
Let's put aside the stupid shit like PETA requesting Turkey, Texas to change their name to something else for Turkey day....(GIVE IT A REST PETA. Turkeys are not endangered birds!!! Start worry about something more important, say like, ummm, people!!! Or the bald eagle...) What is Turkey Day, I mean, Thanksgiving really about? We pride ourselves, we as in Americans, on how much we care about family. Thanksgiving is supposed to be that day, a national holiday, about family and friends. We have holidays for veterans and our military--Memorial Day and Veterans' Day. Not everyone is a veteran or service member or even knows one. (Being a veteran these days are important to me, and I'm very proud that most people recognize these days to appreciate the sacrifices that we make and/or made.) We have a day off for Martin Luther King Jr. I believe he was a hero, but again for only a portion of the population. He wasn't tooting for rights for all, because well, some already had them. We celebrate Presidents' Day--which is really a day that was combined to celebrate George Washington's and Abraham Lincoln's birthdays. One as the father of our country as the first President of the United States and the other as the President who saved our great nation from falling off the face of the planet. We at some point decided we couldn't think enough of them to celebrate them separately...or maybe it was the Deep South still couldn't and wouldn't buy into celebrating Lincoln's birthday outright. (Another blog, as usual.) We celebrate New Year's Day when really it's just another day if you really think about it, but a day we dedicate to new beginnings and hope. We celebrate the 4th of July--nevermind that our nation's birthday is actually the 2nd of July. We have Mother's Day and Father's Day and Grandparents' Day and on and on and on...but there is only one day that we dedicate to everything about our way of life. Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for all the people in our lives that mean something to us and sharing with them. Are we already forgetting that?
The CNN/Bloomberg news article I read quoted a 25 year old as saying she'd rather sit outside a store all day Thanksgiving Day rather than camp out overnight to a store opening early Friday morning. Ok. I was 25 once. I was a little more mature than this woman I'm guessing by that age, but I was 19 once upon a time. I remember hating to be cooped up with the family by the fireside and telling stories about the past year, of Thanksgivings passed, and the whole rigamore. I couldn't wait until they got to the point that the turkey, rum, beer, bourbon, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and football had wore them all out and 8 pm would roll around. My cousins and I would bolt for the door some time after 8 so fast it would make your head spin--for the neighborhood bar where everyone of drinking age up to late 20s would be shooting pool, watching more football, drinking various beverages and celebrating the rest of Thanksgiving with our friends. Hangovers aside, still, I can't imagine giving up any of those Thanksgivings to go shopping for "good deals". Some of those friends--Leslie, Janel, Kelly--are still friends today. I'd have to say celebrating my friends, happy and having fun, is way better than sitting outside a closed store for 6 or 8 hours to save a few bucks.
Yes, we all did still go shopping on Black Friday. Some stores even opened at 6 am!!! OH MY GOD!! And, we'd go for the deals, sometimes even hungover, but here's the thing: We didn't steal anyone else's Thanksgiving away from them!!!! I mean think about it. If the stores open at 6 am, the guys and gals working retail had to be there at 5 am to get the registers ready, turn on the lights, make sure all the little details to ensure our shopping enjoyment. It was bad enough that most of them couldn't come out and play with their friends late Thanksgiving night (well, most of them did, but that's not the point :D ). But now, 9 pm on Thanksgiving or midnight? Seriously? That means most of them have to be in bed, napping, for at least 4 hours, if not a "full night's" sleep, while the rest of us are having our family time--while their families are having their family time. WTF?!?!? What the hell is wrong with us? It's one day a year. One day out of 365. One day where everyone in the United States gets to celebrate. (Now don't lecture me on the bartenders at the neighborhood bar--they generally were the owners and it was their choice to come in, open up, and generally did so, well, because their friends are their patrons in neighborhood bars...too bad so many of us don't even know what that is anymore...but back on point.)
Still we've become such a me, me, me, me society, we don't care if we want to shop. TO SHOP, people. This is not life saving. Ok, it might be. The last couple of Black Fridays have had people injured in fights, stampedes and other caustic behaviors of mobs. We've become so materialistic that the "good deal" is becoming more important than the people we care for, or at least should care for. Worse yet, we've become so obsessed that we would rather opt to be with strangers (maybe one or two friends) outside a store for hours than be laughing with family and friends about things we did this year, last Thanksgiving, and all the Thanksgivings that have passed. We've reached a point where elbowing the person next to us in the face might be acceptable behavior to get that last iPod on special like some comic movie in the 1980s. (Amazing how shit that is over-the-line joking crap in movies eventually becomes acceptable to the mainstream...another blog...) This is our society? This is what Americans have become? This is what Thanksgiving is all about?
This year, I ask you. Think about this for a moment. How important are your family and friends to you? How often do you take the time out to give thanks for them and all the blessings in your life? How often do you give thanks for the freedoms that our great nation afford us? How often do you give thanks for the little things as well as the big? Then ask yourself: Should any of us, for any reason, take away that one day that we've put aside for almost a century now from anyone else in our great nation just so we can shop?
Then make a difference--don't actually shop in the middle of the God d*mn night. Sleep til 4. And if you're really motivated follow one or all of these links to send the damn retailers a message--yes, we'll buy your sh*t at great prices--just wait for Friday. It'll take you a couple of minutes, but they'll get the message:
http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-target-to-save-thanksgiving
http://www.change.org/petitions/1push-back-the-opening-of-best-buy-retail-stores-on-black-friday-to-5am
And HAVE A WONDERFUL TURKEY, I mean, THANKSGIVING DAY!!!
Love it!!!! & TOTALLY agree!!
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