Black Friday Trumps Thanksgiving

 
The early bird gets the new Mac Book Pro with Retina display and the late comer gets a cold turkey leg
By Drew Carter, Junior, International Studies at the Croft Institute, University of Mississippi
jac3238@gmail.com

This consumer holiday is exponentially more important than the preceding celebration of Thanksgiving the day before.  Why celebrate our heritage as Americans when we can clip coupons and organize an army siege at the local Wal-Mart?  Do consumerism and the economy define our nation and its upbringing?
Spending time with loved ones at the classic, traditional and iconic Thanksgiving meal seriously impedes on purchasing various superficial gifts for the next holiday, Christmas.  The Christmas holiday has also been victimized and misconstrued by consumerism.
Preparing a meal for various family members takes time and energy.  From a dinner for two to a feast for forty, Thanksgiving consists of hard-work, diligence, patience and a hearty meal.  The main intention of the holiday is to take time to bring loved ones together during a stressful holiday season to reaffirm family values and to catch up with loved ones lost since the previous holiday season.
However, this valuable family time is not as important as waiting in long lines at the mall, being trampled at Best-Buy, using the thirty-six coupons for gifts at Target and ripping a Barbie Dream House from the arms of child because its scarcity on the shelf.  Consumerism will always prevail considering the proximity of Thanksgiving to Black Friday.
The best advice given to avid shoppers this Thursday is to have the Thanksgiving meal as early as possible.  The sleep-induced tryptophan in each turkey can spur shopping plans if ingested later than 4:00 p.m.  It would be terrible to take that post-Thanksgiving meal nap and not wake up at 2:00 a.m., and miss the once-in-a-lifetime deal on a fifth flat screen television for the living room.