It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Snow is surely falling in my hometown of Spokane, Washington, and the season of cheer is here. But there is one thing wrong with this piece: Thanksgiving hasn't even hit yet and I am already seeing the overload of Black Friday savings!
I have a fundamental issue with Black Friday. Before you start calling me a Scrooge or Grinch, let me state my case. To me, Thanksgiving was always about going to my grandparents’ house and spending time with my whole family, and every year it seems like more and more my family is drifting away, and the party keeps getting shut down earlier because the stores keep opening earlier and earlier. Some of my family opts out of Thanksgiving altogether because the deals are just too hard to pass up.
This year, Walmart is opening their doors at 6 p.m. on Thursday (Uh, I am sorry there, Walmart, but it isn’t just a regular Thursday!). Now, I understand there is also an issue for those who aren’t exactly in favor of Thanksgiving. Sure, some people don’t have families that get together, or they simply just want to avoid that aunt or uncle who feels that dinner time is the time to tell you that your political stance is stupid. Been there, done that. But I will admit that I didn’t really like Thanksgiving up until last year. When I came to school at Western Washington University, I worked at a retail store (not naming them because that isn’t fair), and I had requested time off for Thanksgiving. But this year wasn’t just about Thanksgiving. It was my first year away from home, and furthermore my niece’s first birthday. My boss told me to be realistic and understand it is time to grow up. At this point, I said 'thanks for the experience, but here’s my two-weeks’ notice.'
You see, that attitude is the problem. The attitude that I should value a multi-million-dollar company’s profits on Black Friday over my own family. That physically angers me to my core. I never was into Black Friday (I like to sleep in too much), and those comments radicalized me.
Ask anyone I know: I become so vocal about this whole darn Christmas season. I love Christmas, and I love the holidays for all religions, races, creeds, what have you. The media loves to point at the ‘War on Christmas,’ and they want to shout their heads off about Starbucks Christmas cups not having the baby Jesus on them. To that, I say: What the hell happened?!
I look back on my childhood and I don’t look back fondly. I was a brat who felt that my parents owed me something, so I look back and get mad at myself. But one redeeming quality, I waited until December 1st to list my demands (it makes me sick writing that).
To help me recover from this sickening attitude, I went out and got a job when I turned 16. I learned the value of a dollar, and if I wanted something, I went out and worked my butt off for it. I didn’t realize what the holidays are all about: Togetherness.
Sure this holiday season is going to be tense with the election on all of our minds, and we are tempted to dread going home, but I just have one simple request for when people go home for the holidays: Go home and hug your family, ask them how they’ve been, avoid the political stuff at all costs and just try and remember these people are bound to you no matter what. The only way the world will recover is by listening, talking to each other, and just accepting our differences. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
