Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving — is the biggest shopping day of the year. It is a day dedicated to the best deals, crazy early morning shopping sprees and supposedly, “preparing for” Christmas.
As the years pass it seems Black Friday has become more and more out of hand. This year, the Moscow Walmart SuperCenter will open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving to begin the Black Friday chaos and the Palouse Mall will open at midnight the same day.
This allows Black Friday to infiltrate and take away from the traditions of thankfulness and being with family on Thanksgiving, but it also enforces the materialistic behavior that seems to have taken over the spirit of Christmas.
Giving should be something we want to do, not something we have to do. Gifts should be representative of our relationship with the recipient and what that person means to us.
Gifts don’t have to be extravagant or expensive, but they should be thoughtful. Think about the person you’re giving the gift to before you purchase it. Do they need it? Do they want it? Is it something that will make them happy not because of what it is, but because of the thought you put in to making sure they would like it?
Black Friday was started with these concepts in mind, but the moneymaking goals of corporate shopping centers have transformed the day into one that typically involves news footage of two mothers fighting to the death over a video game console.
The irony is that this day comes after — and in recent years has bled into — a holiday that originated with the purpose of giving thanks.
Black Friday should be on and stay on Friday. Just because your local Walmart opens on Thanksgiving doesn’t mean you have to gear up and go that night.
Spend Thanksgiving evening enjoying time with your family and reflecting on the things you are thankful for. Walmart won’t run out of X-Boxes, and the crowds will probably be gone by the time you get there the next day.
Today’s parents and grandparents have the habit of buying the most extravagant gifts, and even go so far as to trample other shoppers to do so. This disgraceful behavior aids the materialistic habits of today’s youth. We can’t enforce these habits, and instead need to teach the younger generation the value of thankfulness by purchasing just a few gifts that may make their year that much better.
Shopping on Black Friday isn’t a bad thing. It can be convenient for getting the bulk of holiday shopping out of the way, but if you do head out to begin the gift giving on the day after Thanksgiving, think about what you are giving and why you are giving it — instead of the good deal you’re getting on Tickle Me Elmo.
Kaitlyn Krasselt can be reached at [email protected]