Why Black Friday shouldn’t exist

My Thanksgiving experience doesn’t extend to a large group of people – my family, while it technically includes nine people, has not all been together since almost 10 years ago before my grandmother and grandfather died.

But this does not mean that it’s not still one of the most important holidays to me. In my hometown, Thanksgiving is where the “words you couldn’t say” are said and you dedicate a day to the service and pleasure of others for no other reason other than you simply want to see them smile.

I still remember our last Thanksgiving together, all 11 of us. Opa cried when we brought out the shrimp cocktail, Oma said that she had never had sweet potatoes but “they were fabulous” – she had had them every year for about fifty-years or so, but she had Alzhiemer’s – my brother tried to kick my shin under the table and spilled his milk. Family gatherings now are simpler: my dad, my grandmother, my mom and my brother (plus our two dogs, who would love to be at the table with us).

The day begins at 6.30am: my mom and I wake up and get dressed to go participate in the annual “Boulevard Bolt”, a five mile run that goes down Belle Meade Boulevard in Nashville to raise money for the homeless community. For my dad, the day begins at 7am when he wakes up and makes coffee (three cups, black of course) to prepare for my arrival back home. As soon as I do, he has my apron waiting for me.

Thanksgiving is my holiday. I cook with my Dad for Thanksgiving, my brother cooks with my Dad for Christmas. We cook until 3pm when we eat dinner, and then have family friends over for dessert (because we undoubtedly made too much dessert and felt guilty not to share). We then proceed to take the infamous post-dinner nap with the Cowboys game on. The night ends with hot apple cider on the patio by the fire.

The story is different for everyone, but the collective story of the city is the same. Everyone is delivering food to homeless and providing them shelter in local stores and churches, families are running last minute errands at Costco trying to reign in their little children. Not to mention the lawns are full of kids attempting to throw footballs like Peyton.

But is it genuine? Are the parents thinking about how early they have to wake up, or how wonderful their lives are? Typical of American traditions, there is a downside to the positivity of this day: we made a polar opposite “holiday” that occurs the minute after Thanksgiving day ends – Black Friday.

On Thursday you’re thankful for what you have and on Friday you’re running around frantically trying to buy anything and everything you could ever want. Black Friday is essentially only “black” because it is the complete lack of anything you had previously – it’s a tunnel vision experience that makes people triple check their bank account balance and when their next direct deposit paycheck is coming in.

My problem with Black Friday is where it is on the calendar. It is the fact that the Thanksgiving holiday is limited to one single day instead of allowing for the mindset to be continued throughout the proceeding week (like it is in the Christmas season).

I believe the spirit of Thanksgiving is the most beautiful thing that people in America (and especially people in the South) can experience. It’s a day to repose, relax, and to be content – full bodies and empty minds. If it was anywhere else on the calendar, I suppose it would be bearable, but I want everyone to think about these facts before they go out Black Friday shopping:

1. In a Long Island Walmart in 2008, over 2000 people ran into a Walmart before it was open on Black Friday, breaking down the doors, and trampling to death a 34-year-old employee who was a part of the employee barricade to try to prevent the customers from entering the store. The customers continued to push past the police and the paramedics.
2. Two people were shot to death in Toys-R-Us in California in 2010, after two women got into a fight that was bloody enough to incite their male companions to pull out their trusty hand-guns and shoot each other.
3. Multiply this by four and that is how many people have been killed while Black Friday shopping, either from trampling or shoot-outs, since 2006. In addition, over 98 people have been taken to the hospital in critical condition.

What is this, Mean Girls? Everyone might as well be animals fighting over the water hole.

C’mon guys, deaths over $20 off a laptop? How the US would be different if we just decided to relax one more day, throw the Frisbee in the lawn, rake up leaf piles and finish off that pumpkin pie.

Sure enough, we’d probably be fatter, but in the end we would be well-rested and full of memories that will last more than the 365 days it will take to get to the next Thanksgiving.

It’s 367 days until Thanksgiving 2016, and I’m already counting: full heart and happy belly.