After spending an entire day being thankful for what we have, I find it ironic that only a few hours later we are busting down the doors of the nearest Wal-Mart and trampling one another for a new wide screen television. I understand the concept of bargains, but scheduling one of the biggest shopping days of the year directly after a holiday that celebrates gratitude seems almost like an affront to Thanksgiving and the values it represents. Black Friday is an abhorrent tradition and completely undermines the message Thanksgiving tries to convey.
Thanksgiving is a holiday with an enduring message, regardless of its questionable origins. It is a time to be with your family and friends and enjoy the simple aspects of life. We spend time with one another, cook and eat together, and we recognize that material wealth is not what is important. Thanksgiving shows us that family, friends and a decent meal are all we truly need to be happy.
Black Friday, however, is a day dedicated to a happiness derived purely from materialism and makes people forget altogether what they were celebrating the day before. I know that the end of Thanksgiving signals the beginning of the countdown to Christmas and other December holidays and is also when the shopping season officially starts for most, so I understand the reason Black Friday would be after Thanksgiving. What I do not understand, though, is why it is directly after it. Just because the countdown to Christmas and other gift giving holidays has begun, why do we have to rush to buy things only hours after we spend time being thankful for what we already have?
Black Friday and the emphasis it puts on material happiness is distasteful, but what is worse is the recent escalation to violence. Only hours after Americans celebrate what they have, they run out to stores like hounds picking up a scent and trample each other in the process of buying more. Black Friday consists of hour-long lines and hordes of people shopping for no particular item other than what they can get a deal on. This chaos, in more recent years, is now leading to violence. One man, who suffered from a heart condition, collapsed during the Black Friday commotion and, according to the New York Daily News, customers continued to hunt for bargains and even walked over the man. Another shopper more recently used pepper spray on other shoppers so that she could get a video game system and according to Foxnews.com she injured 20 people in the process.
This behavior is obscene and an absolute mockery of the values of the Thanksgiving celebration. Americans are supposed to be coming together and being grateful for what they have, not harming each other and fighting over a video game the same way lions fight over a carcass. To mitigate the chaos it has now been reported that Wal-Mart, Sears and other stores are opening at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving, starting the consumer frenzy before you even finish the last bite of your pumpkin pie. With this change Black Friday not only reverses the lessons learned from Thanksgiving, but also threatens to destroy Thanksgiving Day.
There are those who argue, though, that the tradition of Thanksgiving Day has already been destroyed due to commercialization of the holiday and that it is now solely celebrated as convention. I know many families though, in addition to my own, that still treat Thanksgiving as a day of reflection and a day to be grateful for what we have. This tradition of taking the day to recognize all that we have to be thankful for remains today, a tradition I believe may be lost if Black Friday continues.
So please refrain from running out to the sales this Black Friday. You will only be adding to the chaos and possibly be putting yourself at risk for bodily injury. I am not sure if there is any way to put an end to the materialistic vacuum that is Black Friday, but a start would be to avoid department stores and not take part in the frenzy. In doing so you will retain the lessons Thanksgiving teaches us, such as frugality and gratitude, and hopefully others will follow your lead.
Meredith Berger’s column appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at m.berger@cavalierdaily.com.
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