Thanksgiving is coming. After that, the holiday shopping season officially starts up with everyone’s favorite shopping day–Black Friday on November 29. It’s a really fun day—long lines of ambitious holiday shoppers form outside storefronts before 6 am ready to snatch up all the sales that the day has to offer. Yes, in the real world, people are waking up at 6 am, not falling asleep.
I’ve learned that the true spirit of the holiday season is giving, not receiving. Everyone else must have learned that, too. Why else would so many people wake up before it’s light outside just to go shopping on Black Friday? Think about it: would you wake up that early just to go shopping for other people? I didn’t think so.
The bustle of the holiday season may be because people are anxious to give, but I believe it also emphasizes our need to receive. The whole reason that the holiday season exists for most people is religious in nature. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, three largely followed faiths, celebrate their own religious beliefs during this time. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans put so much of their energy into preparing for the commercial part of the season that it’s easy to forget about the real reason why they’re going out and buying all these gifts. Not to mention fighting off holiday shoppers can turn into battle—imagine a small building filled with people, as fanatical as yourself, fighting to lay their hands on whatever people are fighting over this year. Not a pretty thought, right?
Lets have a reality check. Corporate America owns just about everything you can think of. Now, they’re trying to take over our religious holidays. I plan on doing my part to not let it happen. You may have seen signs posted around campus advertising Buy Nothing Day on Black Friday. The day is just what it sounds like—buy nothing. It’s a way for people to stand up against corporations, at least for one day, and show that they and their holy days aren’t for sale. This year isn’t a first for the “celebration.” In fact, some religious groups are even starting to support the day of boycotting. This year, take a stand, whether it be for religious reasons or just because you tired of being sold to Corporate America, and buy nothing.
