Thirty-plus years ago, my mom and my aunt used to go shopping the morning after Thanksgiving, because that was when the Christmas stuff was first sold and because it was a little time alone for them, with their families sleeping off turkey hangovers. Now, we have people camping out for a week, with generators, to buy things that will wind up in a landfill; retailers making their staff work on Thanksgiving night, and herds of people who need nothing and want everything trampling each other for the latest plastic crap.
My mother taught consumer education for thirty years, so I grew up with Maslow's Heirarchy. I may spend like a drunken monkey sometimes, but at least I always know that I'm buying stuff I want rather than stuff I need. I don't have a problem with people out there buying Christmas presents that would otherwise be smaller or non-existent, and I don't have a problem with people out there buying clothing or home goods that they need.
But people like the jackass with the generator? They're disgusting and they tarnish what Thanksgiving is supposed to mean.
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