Madness

Good morning/afternoon/evening/middle-of-the-night. To those who celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday, I ask, "Are you still hungry or did you overdo it again?" I didn't over-do it, but I'm not hungry and feel as if I am now carrying a baby or a large soccer ball around in my body today. Wow! What great mashed potatoes!

Anyhow, today I have to flog the immense focus on Black Friday - the major shopping day in America which shows just how materialistic we can be and to what lengths we will go to find a deal. Camping-out in front of a store for A WEEK to be First In Line was how some people spent their time and their holiday. Gee. What fun. Let's grab a beach chair, wrap ourselves in fleece and heavy sweaters with bulging scarves and WAIT to buy a flat-screen TV or an iPad or a new cell phone...because electronics is where it's at for most of those who hunkered-down for the "event."

I loathe crowds. I especially dislike shopping unless I'm in and out of a store within an hour. I understand the Lure Of The Deal, but I don't have that Shopping Madness gene in me. As local news covered the literally blocks-long lines surrounding the stores that opened their doors at midnight, or have done so already in the early hours, I was amazed to see people having fun dining on paper plates for their Thanksgiving Dinners that were kindly brought to them by friends and relatives. Most were fairly young, so for some it was akin to Burning Man or any other days-long crazed event in the strangest places.

But c'mon! Don't people have better things to do - such as playing Chess with Grandpa or hanging-out at home on the couch to watch TV or play a videogame? Or, hold your breath, WORK? Some of these Black Friday Waiters must have some form of income or why else would they be shopping - deal or not? Did they use their vacation time to sit on concrete or plop down a tent (as many did) in the Urban Jungle?

Can't we have a respite between one holiday and another? Oh sure, I realize people want to get  their holiday shopping done as early as possible, but WHEN did Thanksgiving become so commercialized? From what I've read, it was in the mid-70's when the day after Thanksgiving became a popular day to shop. I gather spending too much time with relatives triggered a need to fill-up on material possessions to plug the holes in what many find to be an Obligatory Dinner with those they dislike. Having spent a strained day pretending to be civil and "happy to be with family" the need to make ones' self feel Truly Happy is to run around crowded malls and stores, gathering anything in sight that has a discount label.

I have felt this way about the commercialization of Christmas for a very long time. My attitude is not at all new. But now that TV commercials for Christmas began popping-up the day after Halloween this year I decided it had gone too far. With endless news coverage of The Shoppers for today, the disgusted engine that is My Heart began to pound.

If you must be among the throngs, then so be it. I, however, am quite content to stay away from packed parking lots and crowds that could stampede me to death. No TV or cell phone or cashmere sweater is worth it - in my not-so-humble opinion.

Why not let Thanksgiving just BE and allow Christmas it's own space rather than blending the two. It's enough that we have two major holidays back-to-back, not including the 3rd, The New Year and all of the parties that go with it. You may agree with me unless you are now lovingly watching your new Flat Screen HD TV that you managed to pluck from another shopper's hands for half the usual price. Right? Wrong. Those prices could happen any time of the year if only the merchants Just Let It Happen. Perhaps their sales would be up and consistent if prices were reasonable 365 days a year.

Signed,
Almost Scroogey

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