Thanksgiving, I believe, is one of the greatest American traditions in our modern culture. Thanksgiving, in its entirety, is an opportunity to give thanks to the people that surround us and for all the good things that have happened throughout the year. People get together,count their blessings and have a chance to reminisce about the past with good spirits. I’m one of those people who grew up with a great idea of what Thanksgiving should be--and sure, nothing really looks like what it seems to be in the movies, but I enjoy spending time with my friends and family nevertheless.

Until you get to Christmas.

Ah, Christmas: the holiday that seemingly trumps all others on the national calendar, during which people give and receive gifts and also generally have a good time too. However, the one big caveat is shopping. Although, yes, it may seem very hard to shop for that special person in your life, it is always seen as a gesture of goodwill to give rather than receive. The bigger pitfall of this is the shadow of Black Friday. Black Friday is almost as much a tradition in modern America as Thanksgiving itself, with one major flaw. It currently contradicts Thanksgiving for a lot of people. Now, I am not here to write about politics and the economy. I am here to say that Black Friday should be erased from modern culture.

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect--not on material things, but on the many blessings we have received along the way. However, it is pretty ironic that, on the very day after giving thanks, a good portion of us become materialistically obsessed with finding the "best deals." Somehow, many of us find ourselves only giving thanks that we still have cash in our wallets and arms to carry our bags. Also, having Black "Friday” now start on Thanksgiving day itself is simply insulting to the entire purpose of being together as a family. Many retail employees have to leave their traditional family settings in order to work the cash registers at big department stores for people who decided to abandon their dinner tables to go and shop for the "hottest sale." Really, the only ones who are benefiting are the rich cats on the top.

Black Friday has created a rift that divides family and tradition by using consumerist culture to a tee, all for the sake of saving a few bucks for the kids. In reality, markdowns are just another name for letdowns for families across the US. Also, there is something to be said about the countless hours of video footage of people flooding malls and lining up across blocks of city streets instead of running to enjoy dinner with their families or lining up to volunteer at soup kitchens to help the less fortunate. Either of those would better, but then again, 'tis the season to be jolly... right?

this is the way things have been for a very long time, but it really shouldn’t be that way. Even kids nowadays look forward to Black Friday more that spending Thanksgiving with family and having a good time. It’s kind of sad, and that’s why the culture should be changed. Give thanks for the really important things in your life, and stay home the day after. Besides, someone's gotta be there to eat the leftovers.