Before the Thanksgiving turkey even had time to get cold, people began their surge to black Friday sales. Don't get me wrong, I love a good bargain as much as the next person, and I and my family had a great time shopping, selecting gifts, and opening presents. But can we not take even 24 hours to be thankful for what we have without obsessing over how much more we need to get?
People (idiots if you really want to be honest about it) camped out in front of stores for days before Thanksgiving. One woman talked about how they manned their tent in shifts so each of them could have a chance to go home for the Thanksgiving feast. Stores opened at ridiculous hours for fear the competition would get more sales than they did. Even at 4 in the morning, people jammed the doorways waiting to get in. People were pepper sprayed, trampled, and assaulted -- all for the chance to get 50% off. People mistakenly thought one store in California was opening at midnight. The store was actually scheduled to open at 4 a.m. When the unsuspecting employees who were stocking shelves failed to open the doors at midnight, the barbarians knocked them down and stormed into the closed story, neglecting to pay for the merchandise they helped themselves to. And all this under the guise of celebrating the birth of the Savior.
No, Thanksgiving and Christmas just don't seem to mean what they once did to the masses. The holidays seem to be much less about thanking God for His goodness and reflecting on His abundant blessings and much more about greedily beating the other guy to the big bargain -- legally or illegally. May God forgive us our selfishness and ingratitude, and may we all remember in 2012 that the important things in life are not things.
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2 comments:
AMEN Essie! What a great post to begin a new year. Welcome back, I've missed you!
You are right on!
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