It's interesting to see how materialistic our society is. Black Friday just exemplifies the fact that we, as Americans, value "stuff" over anything else. Since Black Friday is supposed to be the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, it's informally the beginning of the Christmas season itself. It's saddening to see that supposedly, this materialism is the meaning of the holiday season. I thought that the holiday season was supposed to be about helping others, giving without receiving, family, and loved ones.
Whatever happened to the "Christmas Spirit"? Does being full of said spirit really mean going out and frantically shoving others out of your way in order to get the best deals on things? Frank Capra's movie so accurately states You Can't Take It With You, so why do we obsess over these material goods? I wish I could challenge everyone to give their time instead of gifts. In this hustle and bustle way of life, it's so easy to not want to waste time on something, but spending time with someone or volunteering your time could be a good way to make someone else (and maybe even yourself) a little happier.
I find it really sad for the people who sit in lines on Thanksgiving because of Black Friday... I mean, what ever happened to family and celebrating? Black Friday really tramples on the holiday spirit (literally). When you say that people should "give their time instead of gifts", I can actually think of a time when I did that, believe it or not. This year for Christmas I did something a little different with my family and instead of spending money on them (like I usually have in the past) I decided to spend ACTUAL time making homemade gifts... Now I'm not saying that those gifts were the boss and they certainly weren't what people nowadays would put on their wishlists, but at least my gifts were made from spending thought and effort on them. We, as a society, should spend that time being thoughtful instead of greedy.
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