It Is A Black Friday Indeed

How did it come to this? When did one of the largest and most important holidays of this country’s history became the starting line for the rampage of unchecked, savage mobs?

Thanksgiving. I know that that word is lost on many of us, so I’ll go ahead and say it again. Thanksgiving. The name of a highly important day that is set aside by the people of this country to, you guessed it, give thanks. A day where we’re to consider how fortunate we actually are, as opposed to how unfortunate we could be. Really, I wonder how many folks actually consider as they complain that their twenty lb. turker is too rich, or that they don’t like mashed potatoes, or that someone forgot to buy bread rolls, that there are uncounted people in this mighty U.S.A. (some more than likely living within walking distance) who are unable to enjoy even one tenth of such a feast. We feast on this day, oh yes. It is a sign displaying our good fortune, and rightfully to be enjoyed to the fullest and not scorned. You sit around your table surrounded by the folks most important in your life and indulge with gratitude in the sumptuousness that you’re able to consume…and then you decide that it’s not enough, leap up from your table before your food has made its way to the small intestines, and rush to stake your claim among the barely controlled to the wholly unrestrained rabbles that flood the stores that own your souls.

It was with vexation and a deep frown that I was informed that Black Friday actually begins nowadays on Thanksgiving day itself. Forget the importance of the day. Who cares about enjoying what we have? It’s not worth the same length of time as a high school reunion. I wish for no misunderstanding: I do not say that Black Friday is, of itself, a bad thing. It is supremely unfortunate, however, that the very same people one will hear going on about how thankful they are for what they have early Thursday morning will be the same folks striking, shoving, trampling, and even stealing from their fellow men Thursday evening. I’ve seen the headlines, the photos, and the videos. The shopping mobs are hardly short of wild rabbles. They fall just under that mark only in that they move with an unshakable purpose. The people comprising them want one thing—To find and secure the best deals they can before the person next to them.

Why is this a problem, one might ask? I don’t care how cheap the high definition television is, I don’t care how marked down the latest ipod is, I don’t care if you can find five fantastic wonders for your children that would normally break your bank now priced like birdseed. Nothing on those shelves, absolutely nothing, is worth attacking another human being for. N.O.T.H.I.N.G. I’ve seen people trampled and ignored, I’ve read about folks taking weapons into the store for the purpose of fighting off competitors to their desired items, and I’ve seen said fights occur with such a spirit of selfishness and violence that it bordered on feral. Black Friday has become one the most shameful things I’ve seen.

It is most wretched to have to face the realization that people are not really going to do much better. In fact, if this condition continues as it is, it will most definitely get worse! Nobody loves a good deal, a really good deal, as much as I do, but I didn’t go to the store today. Without the root of thankfulness the tree of appreciation fails, and the seed of presumptuousness blossoms. From presumptuousness comes arrogance, and arrogance is the garden bed of greed.

There is little left to say really. ‘Do better’ might be sound advice, but if ordinary people can turn into wild stampeders, raging hoarders, and savage brawlers against their fellow men all for the sake of a marked down item that is ultimately going to break or be used up, ‘better’ isn’t nearly enough.