Sick of It

This has been a quiet week for our household. Two of my children were sick most of the week. Fortunately, due to a mid-week holiday, it was the least scheduled week of the month. Wednesday night Scout meetings were canceled. There were no Thursday  or Friday afternoon meetings. It was blessedly quiet week all the way to the end.

 

That wasn't the case for many folks. A few hardy souls were lining up outside favored stores by Wednesday evening waiting for bargain shopping that would be coming up soon. Newspapers, TV, and radio all oozed a constant flow of information on where the best bargains would be found on Black Friday.

 

Why do I hear "Black Friday" but think "Black Plague?" It could be because the whole general concept disgusts me.  Folks are in such a hurry to get a deal that the meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday and the upcoming Christmas holiday are totally forgotten.  No, let me correct that. The meaning of the holidays is ignored. It's bad enough that the Thanksgiving feast has turned from a special meal for which we are thankful into a culinary orgy of gluttony. Or, since it's not easily commercialized, the Thanksgiving gathering is reduced to nothing more than a meal with a archaic theme. Follow that closely with a grab-fest of greed induced shopping and I find the whole weekend nauseating.

 

I'm stunned. Really? People fighting over televisions and towels because they're on sale? A plague on us indeed if this is what our affluent society has come to!