Thanksgiving and Black Friday

It's that time of year again, Thanksgiving and the day following, Black Friday.  I have never attended a Black Friday Jungle event or what they call a Sale.  There isn't alot I suppose I should say about either holiday, it is only the placement of the two that concern me. 

Thanksgiving, is the day we're taught from little on up to give thanks to everyone from God to our friends and family for all that we have and- everything and everyone.  We be thankful, one day out of our usually selfish lives.  On that day of thanks we feast, greedily and selfishly helping ourselves to multiple servings of stuffing, turkey, hams, sweet rolls, pies, icecreams, and on and on.  Then when all the greedy selfish feasting is over, we rush out of the house, early in the morning, with the children and the dog, and set up tent in a shopping center parking lot, waiting for the store to open and the sale to begin. 

When it does we rush greedily and selfishly through the doors, pushing and shoving against our thankful neighbors, contesting, trampling, screaming and grabbing, we clear off the shelves of everything our hearts desires- greedily trying to grab the last DSI or Xbox of Wii Kinect or Ipad before our neighbor can get one.  If they can't hold onto what they have tightly enough, you might not be thankful for what you are clutching in your own hands and snatch the product from them, and then greedily make your way to the checkout.  Then you leave, triumphant at how much money you saved, if not a little thankful...

Those of you who have lost loved ones in these stampedes, are probably a bit thankful that your own life was spared.  It is a shame that a life was stomped into the Walmart ashpalt over an electronic that was then dropped in a toilet (on accident) and ruined just two months later.  Daddy would have lived alot longer than that cellphone.... 

So this holiday we celebrate the very morning after Thanksgiving, what is it?  Is this what our day of thanks provokes us to do?  To fight like wild animals, to herd like jackasses or wild cattle, trampling everything in our path... for merchandise we think we "need", which is in reality only a luxury and not the joy of life.  Is this what Thanksgiving Day has taught us Americans?  To grovel like serfs under parade floats, and grab and claw for merchandise we are fully convinced we must have. 

Thanksgiving Day was proclaimed a holiday when we realized that the pilgrims were thankful to God to be alive, for the land of oppourtunity that lay before them.  They were thankful for the raw materials, as in: The raw lumber and concrete and drywall used to create a house- not the finished mansion.  The materials.  They had uncultivated, uncultured, wild land.  No towns, no tradesmen, no shops, no government, no economy, ... and they were thankful. 

So, my dear Black Friday shopper, consider my words.  Only a hypocrite can celebrate Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday.  This year, I will be celebrating Thanksgiving Day. 

The artist~