So you carved the turkey, said your thanks, and started hanging up Christmas lights. After days of anticipations and hours of preparation, Thanksgiving Day finally came and went. We were all grateful to be with family and visit with friends. We came. We saw. We ate.
Then, suddenly at the stroke of 6pm on the same night, people began rushing out of their warm homes into the cold of the night to hunt down the deals and steals. Wasn't just a moment ago, we were all saying how grateful we were for our health, jobs, and family? Just an hour ago, we were all sitting around the table giving thanks and saying grace. How the heck did we all end up here in a line with dozens of people fighting for the latest pair of shoes and hover boards? This is totally not what Thanksgiving is about. In fact, it's the exact opposite.
There's a certain crappy change of pace from the moment the leftovers start to pile up in our fridge to the moment we wake up at 4am to get in line for door busters. I mean, why wouldn't we want to save lots of money on a 40inch flat screen? How could you pass up 40% for Steve Maddens? The whole store 40%?! Yes of course, I'll be there.
It's just the timing of it all seems a bit rushed. I guess that's why they call it the Holiday Rush. You see, in a world like ours, money is what makes the world go round. Money catalyzes progress, innovation, and gives birth to all those fancy things we call commodities. But what about being thankful? The way door busters are timed now, we can't even be thankful for an entire day before rushing out to buy something new.
It's okay to want the newest and the best, and everyone wants to save money so there's really no harm no foul. Maybe we should just pause a moment to see that between Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, we seem to take one step forward and two steps back. Even as I sit here, I'm wearing my newest Black Friday purchase, a teal, cross-back stripped Lululemon sports bra, that I got for $20 off. Did I need it? No. Does it make me feel sport-ier? Your damn right it does, and I really do feel thankful for that.
