The contradiction of Black Friday, Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving: a day full of prayer, food, family, giving thanks, parades and football. Black Friday: a day full of greed, maxing out credit cards, materialism, fighting and consumerism. How are they so contradicting within a 12 hour time span of each other?

Black Friday has always had a negative connotation. According to a Philadelphia merchant in the January, 1966 American Philatelist “ ‘Black Friday’ is the name which the Philadelphia Police Department has given to the Friday following Thanksgiving Day. It is not a term of endearment to them. "Black Friday" officially opens the Christmas shopping season in center city, and it usually brings massive traffic jams and overcrowded sidewalks as the downtown stores are mobbed from opening to closing.”

Fast forward 51 years later, and Black Friday hasn’t changed much. Stores are stuffed with turkey filled customers, hoping to purchase their Christmas gifts or catch the deals. There has been numerous accounts of altercations between shoppers. According to blackfridaydeathcount.com there have been a total of 10 deaths and 108 injuries connected to Black Friday since 2006. Arguments and fights over items that we crave when in comparison, hours ago, we were just counting our blessings about the things we were supposedly grateful for.

Black Friday also affects how we spend time together as a family. People are tempted to leave the dinner table to either work at a Black Friday event or a sale. Doors open 6 P.M and as their is need for shoppers, there is also need for workers. Tacy Janis, 18, worked during Black Friday before and plans to work this year.

Although it seems like majority of Americans go Black Friday shopping for unnecessary reasons, Janis doesn’t feel that way.

“A lot of people that go black Friday shopping have a different mindsets and are thinking about getting the deals and the items they want. “

In my opinion, we as a society could make better use of our time and energy. One Thanksgiving, I remember my family going around the dinner table saying what we were thankful for then, hitting up the tanger outlets, five hours later to purchase clothes and shoes. Reflecting upon it now, I understand how ironic it was to

America is a country driven by family and materialism. I feel that time is more valuable than money. Spending times with loved ones or spending time at shelters or soup kitchens is a better gift than what money can bring.

In conclusion, today’s generation has been brainwashed. There are far too many people in need and far too many with the ability to help. We should take a stand and demand the mainstream media and department stores respect the family and stop monopolizing and cashing in on materialism.

#opinions