In my personal opinion, I always felt that Thanksgiving was a holiday that trumped the rest. Not only was it a major holiday that had no affiliation with a religion, it was the best time to bring families together and stuff your faces. To me, Thanksgiving was the ultimate family time. However, there is one unofficial holiday that seems to overshadow Thanksgiving every year: Black Friday. A consumer frenzy consisting of hair pulling, fist fighting, and other friendly encounters just to get the Ipad mini your 8 year old needs to have this year. Every year, more people forget what the true meaning of Thanksgiving is and spend most of their time and energy trying to be the first in line to get that really creepy Tickle-Me Elmo or the new Apple product that will probably shatter in the first five seconds you look at it.

Now, I have never really had a problem with Black Friday before for a couple of reasons. I have never gone Black Friday shopping and, after I heard about that guy who got trampled to death at a Wal-Mart, I may never go Black Friday shopping (Honestly, is the risk of dying really worth that Samsung Galaxy? I hope not). I wouldn’t have to worry about Black Friday and its ridiculousness until after I was out of my food coma (Which took 2-4 hours to come out of). Since I was never really into it like everyone else, I sat home and enjoyed my holiday with family and friends.

Unfortunately, we have a problem with that this year. Stores are opening up for Black Friday shopping as early as 6pm on Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving is being shoved out of the way so people can get to their deals earlier this year. Now, I am pretty sure the geniuses who thought this was a great idea don’t have families or friends they want to spend this holiday with, or they do, but could care less about this. I’m not the only one concerned about this either; from 40 year old mothers to worried conservatives, people are speaking up about this dilemma. Why does Thanksgiving have to step down to a selfish, consumer-based holiday like Black Friday?

There are a few reasons as to why this upsets so much. Now, I know many of you will be slaving away in the kitchen, as I will also be doing. It is the one unselfish thing I do every year, so I give it my all. I got to make mashed potatoes, stuffing, collard greens, biscuits, baked mac n cheese, sweetened yams, a whole turkey, five pies for family and friends, cookies, and cakes. That’s a whopping seven hours total slaving over a hot oven. Now, after all that work, I would appreciate it if people sat down and enjoyed the food I made. So with people worrying about getting the earliest deals and leaving dinner early to head over to Best Buy, I feel unappreciated (and I will be very cranky, so that combination is not good for anyone in a five mile radius of me). And, I can bet that anyone in the same predicament would feel the same.

Second, this shows me where our culture is headed. Quality times with people we love are coming second to the quantities of toys and gadgets we want. Is family no longer of importance in America? Are we so desensitized to this problem that it’s becoming the norm in society? Is our generation becoming so distant and unfamiliar with social interaction that we use consumerism to ignore this problem? I don’t know the answer to any of those questions and I’m afraid to know. I do know that this is becoming a serious complication in our nation and it needs to be addressed.

Thirdly, why are people so crazy about these sales? You know that once you buy that “do-hicky”, that one of few outcomes might happen. A newer model of whatever you bought is coming soon anyway and it’ll make whatever you got now seem like Lady Gaga: old news. Whoever you bought that gift for doesn’t want it anymore, already got it, or you gave it to them and they didn’t like it. You could also find a bunch of these crazy deals and sales for the next couple weeks AFTER Black Friday, so the only point of even participating in Black Friday shopping is either for the sport or to be entertained by the idiots exhausting all their energy on this one day.

Can we please just bring Thanksgiving back? Can Thanksgiving be a thing for just one year? Why are we caring about such a trivial day? Instead of standing in the cold for hours just so you can fight with another customer over that last ugly purple sweater on the rack, spend time with the people you love by eating food, watching football, and playing games (though I do suggest staying away from Monopoly if you want to keep your family and friends). This year, celebrate Thanksgiving Day by giving thanks for those you keep near each year.