Black Friday is here. It comes this day every year, and it is a really sad and terrifying spectacle to behold. With the angry, crazed mobs lining up for blocks outside stores hours before they open, what has this turned into? What does this say about us?
What happened to spending a few days around Thanksgiving with friends and family? What happened to just enjoying some time before the next holiday quietly (or not so quietly) eating left overs, watching football, and slowly breaking out the Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanaza/Yule/whatever decorations?
Is it really necessary to perpetuate the idea of extreme consumerism with a major shopping event EVERY year? And why do the stores and corporations need to incite such a frenzy? How many times have people died, trampled to death, or crushed against doors that won't open?
I'd be terrified to be a shopper or an employee in any retail setting on this day. Just look at the guys up there. (Is it weird that my main concern is what do they do when they have to pee? Like getting through THAT is an option.)
This is an utterly ridiculous tradition and it is exactly the opposite of what this season, cumulative of Thanksgiving and Christmas (or whatever winter holiday you celebrate), is supposed to represent. What happened to actually being Thankful? It's like we're doing nothing more than paying lip service to Thanksgiving and then jumping right into the shopping frenzy of Christmas, which is supposed to be about family and community. It's so not supposed to be about presents. Only the smallest of us seem to truly get that (ask any 2 year old about Christmas and they'll tell you about snow, cookies, candy canes, and going to see grandma. They won't say a thing about presents unless you tell them, though they might make mention of Santa and his reindeer.).
I boycott Black Friday on principle. Buying gifts, for others or for yourself, should not be done in a frenzy where people are fighting over the last Tickle Me Elmo, or the last Thingamabob, or whatever it is they're wanting. If I do ANY shopping on this day it's from the comfort of my home and the internet. I likely won't darken any store doorway for another week or two at least.
