More Stuff, More Happy

Black Friday. The most selfish day of the year. As Americans we have set aside an entire day to be thankful for the things we have. Things like life, the people we are surrounded by, and the things we have are just a few of the many things people say they are thankful for as they sit around the big dinner table on Thanksgiving Day. We spend all day focusing on that, and then wake up the next morning to go and buy more things. Could there be anything more self-absorbed? More selfish? I don’t think so. If we are so thankful for what we have right now, why do we need to go buy more stuff just because it’s on sale? Companies have become so self-absorbed that they have even started opening their doors on Thanksgiving night. They are so focused on all the things they could sell and the money they could make that they do not seem to even give thought to the people that are missing family time to work for them so that they can actually make that money. Don’t forget about the customers. They sit outside of stores like Best Buy as early as Wednesday night and just camp out till early Friday morning. They skip Thanksgiving with their family and the message all this sends to other people is a general “I want to be first. More stuff, more happy.” Is this really the message we want to send to people? Does it really matter that much that you get a hundred dollars off a TV when you already have three at home? Is the fact that you shopped through the night starting at 8 o’clock on Thanksgiving really something to boast about? Is it not the most hypocritical thing to give thanks one day and not even a full day later go rushing around, pushing and shoving, with rude and inconsiderate words coming from your mouth just because you want more stuff and people are in your way? All this for things you may use for a few years or even as little as a few months, only to put it away and forget about it. Why waste a day doing this when you don’t even know what tomorrow will bring? If Black Friday was your last day on this earth, would you want to spend it like that? Would the knowledge of this being your last day put things in perspective? Would you suddenly realize how silly and petty and selfish the whole day is?