Each year we come through the Thanksgiving/Black Friday
combination I am aware of the contrast between those two days. On Thanksgiving it is a gracious time of
giving. Giving thanks for what God has done the previous year, giving away part
of ourselves to others who are less fortunate and giving love and fellowship to
friends and family. We spend time
together, enjoy a meal together, maybe watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade,
football games, or an old move together, talk a walk, play a game, and
generally put all of the other busyness of our lives aside.
Black
Friday has now crossed over the line into Thanksgiving night. People leave their families to stand in line
for a good sale, sometimes the store opens at 9 PM, or midnight or 6 in the
morning. These people are willing to stand or sit outside in the freezing
weather to buy that one thing that they can’t do without. When the doors are open there is a frenzy of
people pushing, shoving, and accosting their fellow shoppers to get the best
deal first. Contrasting that with how
poorly the economy is doing I can only imagine the debt these people are taking
on to buy these items that may only be used a few times and then they are
discarded. In the case of electronics
the toys we are buying are destined to take us away from our loved ones into a
world of isolation, detachment and limited human contact.
The greed, envy and selfishness
that comes with this new ‘holiday’ has devastating implications for individuals
and families. It is clearly one of the
darkest sides of our capitalistic society.
The ‘system’ loves it because it pumps hundreds of millions of dollars
into the economy. It is often the day
where losses turn to profits and it predicts how well the economy will do
through the end of the year.
I don’t partake in Black Friday for
lots of reasons; 1) I’m not much of a shopper anyway, 2) standing in line for a
long time while it is cold is not appealing to me, 3) I am not fond of crowds
in any situation but especially in retail stores, 4) the greed that wells up in
me is not healthy for my spiritual journey, I find that I can easily go to bad
places in that environment. We all need
to reflect on our deeper heart issues related to this time of year. Is it one of thanksgiving and gratefulness or
one of greed, getting the best deal and beating others out for it?
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