American holidays have become overrun with consumerism – Thanksgiving
barely has a place with Christmas advertising springing on TV earlier and
earlier every fall and taking over stores. Black Friday now begins on Thursday
evening, so it not only takes away from the holidays of those who choose to
shop (and say that they can be thankful any day), but means that retail
employees are forced to forgo their own holiday in exchange for a paycheck and
a job. The media plays a real part in the destruction of traditional culture,
and encouraging people that the correct way to bring in the next set of
holidays is by shopping and fighting crowds, possibly braving cold temperatures
to try to score deals.
Commercials show us that shopping should be the upbeat part
of the holiday – but ignore the families who are left at home while some people
shop, and the workers who have to deal with angry customers, frustrated by the
busiest shopping day of the year. One simple solution is to take traditional
holidays back to their roots and look past media hype, focusing instead on
family. Even my family managed to pull off Thanksgiving dinner after my cousin
and I (two young women) tried to ruin mashed potatoes, a dish my dad said was
impossible to mess up! Even when some skill sets are limited, you can make do.
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