#BlackFriday
#SmallBusinessSaturday
#CyberMonday
#GivingTuesday
Ever since #ThanksgivingThursday, the days this week have been relentlessly programmed to separate people from their hard-earned funds in a rampant display of capitalism or guilt-driven charity. Getting up early to go shopping at the stores on #BlackFriday (you should have seen the crowds when we drove past the Citadel Outlets late Friday night). Encouraging people to support small local businesses instead of global conglomerates on #SmallBusinessSaturday. Cajoling people to spend time at work on #CyberMonday to do their holiday shopping under their employer’s noses. And for those guilty from all that excessive consumerism, you can donate to your favorite charities on #GivingTuesday.
Lord knows what they have planned for tomorrow. Perhaps #WelfareWednesday anyone?
All of this, of course, is part of the global machinery to encourage excessive spending on Christmas, which is where most retailers make their money for the year, combined with the typical year-end exhortations to encourage people to donate so you can deduct in the current tax year. We have turned holidays that have religious significance — Christmas celebrating the start of Christianity, Chanukkah demonstrating a win in the battle against assimilation, and Kwanzaa celebrating… well, I’m not sure what it celebrates — into events designed to line pocketbooks and purses.
That seems wrong, at least to me.
At our house, we operate on the philosophy that we get goodies for ourselves and our families when we can afford them, and when we need them. We don’t wait until the holidays. We also patronize retailers that offer good prices all year round — not retailers that mark things up over the year for everyone so they can offer deep discounts to a few on #BlackFriday or #CyberMonday. We make a point of always patronizing the small local business first. These are our practices — we don’t need marketed days to remind us.
We also determine the charities and organizations we support at the beginning of the year, and support them year round as best we are able: either through donations or spreading the word about them to others.
We need to start pushing back against this commercialization of the week after Thanksgiving. The holiday season is not about sales and spending. It is about family, and reminding us on what our values should be. It is not wondering if the 3 wise men stopped at a #BlackFriday sale to pick up the frankincense, myrrh, and spices they brought to Baby Jesus, or if the Maccabees took advantage of #CyberMonday to order their oil and menorahs at a bargain price.
