The below article appeared yesterday in one of the local newspaper in my area. The article is well written and expresses my sentiments exactly. I would love for people to make a movement out of this to send a message to the retail industry that they have gone too far.
The industry has already ruined Christmas with all the darned commercialism and focus on things, instead of keeping in mind the reason for the season. Many children are growing up believing that Christmas is about getting gifts. When I was a child Christmas was a very magical time and Emanuel Jesus the Christ coming into the world was the main focus.
Thanksgiving is now being ruined too by these retail executives who are only concerned about how much more money they can make. We, the buying public has to take some responsibility for this. If we did not leave our homes to go out there and purchase stuff we don't really need the retailers would not be opening on Thanksgiving day too. Black Friday was bad enough without infiltrating Thanksgiving too.
We have the power to change this and stop the nonsense. Share this article with your family and friends and lets make this a movement all across our nation until the retailers stop opening on Thanksgiving day.
John Gray: The mall will be there tomorrow
There’s an expression that when something is truly over you can quote “stick a fork in it, it’s done.” Well in a couple of weeks when people gather to celebrate Thanksgiving with their families might I suggest you forget the turkey, the tradition and everything that made this day special … just stick a fork in it because it’s done. The big box stores and people at the mall have taken care of that. Forget Black Friday, we now officially have Black Thursday because that is when all the big sales will be start happening this year.
Let’s begin with full disclosure, the only thing I hate more than shopping in crowded stores is shopping in them at an hour when a sane person should be asleep. I’ve always thought it was ridiculous for people to get up and go to the mall at 6 a.m. just to save $20 on a video game or toy. I always asked myself this simple question — what is my sleep and peace of mind worth to me? If the answer was more than twenty bucks then I stayed in bed.
Even though I didn’t understand the people who seemed to enjoy getting up in the middle of the night to shop, I respected their right to drive in the dark and run like rabbits through a store in the hopes of grabbing the last pink Furby. What business was that of mine? None. But then the 6 a.m. sales became the 4 a.m. sales and in recent years many stores are opening at midnight after Thanksgiving. Technically they could still claim it was a Black Friday sale. Not anymore.
Now we learn that Wal-Mart and Sears will start their holiday sales at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving night. Any savvy shopper will tell you that when a sale starts at 8 p.m. you need to be at the store, in line, at least an hour or two earlier than that. If you’re not at the front of that line there’s no way you’re getting the new supercharged, deluxe, dust buster with the Kung Fu grip. And how could you live without that?
Yet that’s just the beginning of what’s wrong with all of this. Stores, like shoppers, crave to be first so if someone opens their store at 8 p.m. someone else will want to be the place that opens at 7 p.m. Very soon the holiday sales will start Thanksgiving morning and go all day Thursday, overnight and straight through Friday. Is nothing sacred? Is it wrong to have one day a year where we put aside our petty differences, eat some dry stuffing and spend time laughing with each other? Must we ruin everything?
If this continues families will be forced to serve Thanksgiving dinner at 10 a.m. so their guests can scarf it down and bolt for the shopping center. No sale is worth giving up this time with your family so I’m begging you to stop the madness. Just say no. I don’t care what’s on sale, for what low price, please, oh please, just stay put. If enough people stay home and tell the stores they want no part of ruining yet another holiday, trust me, they’ll get the message and go back to starting their sales at the unreasonable hour of midnight.
If you love shopping, can’t resist a bargain and don’t mind running out on your loved ones in the middle of Thanksgiving day might I suggest you think of your neighbors instead. Those stores don’t run themselves and if they open up on Thanksgiving Day then that means their employees won’t get to have a nice meal with their families. So if you won’t do it for yourself, do it for them. I’m not asking much, just eat and sit on the couch.
When speaking on the meaning of Thanksgiving, H.U. Westermayer said it better than I ever could, “The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.”
To heck with the sales, take a breath, take a moment to be thankful and be with the people you love. Trust me; the mall will be there tomorrow.
John Gray can be reached at johngray@fox23news.
Let’s begin with full disclosure, the only thing I hate more than shopping in crowded stores is shopping in them at an hour when a sane person should be asleep. I’ve always thought it was ridiculous for people to get up and go to the mall at 6 a.m. just to save $20 on a video game or toy. I always asked myself this simple question — what is my sleep and peace of mind worth to me? If the answer was more than twenty bucks then I stayed in bed.
Even though I didn’t understand the people who seemed to enjoy getting up in the middle of the night to shop, I respected their right to drive in the dark and run like rabbits through a store in the hopes of grabbing the last pink Furby. What business was that of mine? None. But then the 6 a.m. sales became the 4 a.m. sales and in recent years many stores are opening at midnight after Thanksgiving. Technically they could still claim it was a Black Friday sale. Not anymore.
Now we learn that Wal-Mart and Sears will start their holiday sales at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving night. Any savvy shopper will tell you that when a sale starts at 8 p.m. you need to be at the store, in line, at least an hour or two earlier than that. If you’re not at the front of that line there’s no way you’re getting the new supercharged, deluxe, dust buster with the Kung Fu grip. And how could you live without that?
Yet that’s just the beginning of what’s wrong with all of this. Stores, like shoppers, crave to be first so if someone opens their store at 8 p.m. someone else will want to be the place that opens at 7 p.m. Very soon the holiday sales will start Thanksgiving morning and go all day Thursday, overnight and straight through Friday. Is nothing sacred? Is it wrong to have one day a year where we put aside our petty differences, eat some dry stuffing and spend time laughing with each other? Must we ruin everything?
If this continues families will be forced to serve Thanksgiving dinner at 10 a.m. so their guests can scarf it down and bolt for the shopping center. No sale is worth giving up this time with your family so I’m begging you to stop the madness. Just say no. I don’t care what’s on sale, for what low price, please, oh please, just stay put. If enough people stay home and tell the stores they want no part of ruining yet another holiday, trust me, they’ll get the message and go back to starting their sales at the unreasonable hour of midnight.
If you love shopping, can’t resist a bargain and don’t mind running out on your loved ones in the middle of Thanksgiving day might I suggest you think of your neighbors instead. Those stores don’t run themselves and if they open up on Thanksgiving Day then that means their employees won’t get to have a nice meal with their families. So if you won’t do it for yourself, do it for them. I’m not asking much, just eat and sit on the couch.
When speaking on the meaning of Thanksgiving, H.U. Westermayer said it better than I ever could, “The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.”
To heck with the sales, take a breath, take a moment to be thankful and be with the people you love. Trust me; the mall will be there tomorrow.
John Gray can be reached at johngray@fox23news.
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