Posted on 11/25/2011 1:27:16 PM PST by NYer
I confess, I despise “Black Friday.” I hate the way consumers are urged to haul their Thanksgiving-exhausted selves out to stores — away from family members who have often traveled some distance to come together — so they can surrender their human dignity or assault the dignity of others in order to snag a ten-dollar sweater and a waffle-maker for $9.99.
And I hate the way consumers go along with it.
I hate the way the mad buying and bad behavior is attached to Christmas — the coming of the Christ was meant to set us free, and yet the over-commercialization of “the Holidays” feeds our greed and tethers us to our possessions in a way that can only weigh us down, more firmly, to earthly concerns.
We are not released, only further encumbered.
And am I the only one who, each year, finds the Christmas commercials less ingratiating and more off-putting? “The season” has only just begun, but already I can’t stand the commercial where a son travels through snow to see his parents, only to find an empty house, because his Boomer parents — not interested in welcoming him — have sneaked out the back and taken his car for a spin? “Click!” The channel changes every time that commercial comes on.
She’s not writing specifically about Christmas, but in her column this week on Patheos, Elizabeth Duffy examines the emptiness of a life too full of things:
It’s time to admit that just as my kids don’t play with the wooden toys I’d prefer them to play with, I don’t wear half my clothes; I’ll never read half my books; and I don’t bake specialty cakes. And yet, over the years I have accumulated an outrageous number of artifacts for a multi-faceted fantasy life that no one in this house actually lives.
Accumulating all of that stuff — it actually creates distance between our real selves and what we think we’re supposed to be, as dictated to us through advertisers and trends. Buy these $400 shoes and you will be happy; imagine yourself walking down a runway in this dress (that no one can actually wear unless they’re built like an adolescent boy) and it will mean something to you. Really, it will.
But it never does. Because things are just things. They don’t add to your wisdom; they don’t make you a better or kinder or happier person. If you give them your love, they won’t love you back.
As Elizabeth writes:
Because I can afford them, I’ll buy five pairs of jeans in search of the one perfect pair. I may only spend twenty bucks, and have five pairs of name-brand jeans, but who needs them? Who can store them? Who has the lifestyle to support five pairs of name-brand jeans? Not me. And to be real, I probably have three times that, because I have my normal jeans, my pregnant jeans, and my fat jeans wardrobe. Also a skinny jeans wardrobe, just in case.
So there, I have clothed myself, and all my potential selves, on a dime. Yay me.
I used to make my peace with “Black Friday” and the excesses of “the season” because I considered that even the bad behavior was rooted, ultimately, in love; that people were acting like loons over “things” because they were motivated by their love for their families. But that’s not convincing me, any longer.
Each year, I find myself less willing to take part in any of this, less persuaded that I must go out and buy “things” for people who already have more than enough of everything, because somehow this is supposed to demonstrate my love. “Things” mean love.
Well, I’m not doing it. The littlest kids are getting gifts (small ones; hello chess sets!) — and everyone else is getting homemade cookies or Monastic soaps, cremes and candies — high-quality “things” that are quickly used and gone, and whose purchase helps sustain houses of prayer — or books that can actually change people’s lives by helping them to find a measure of true comfort and joy, those two genuine gifts of Christmas. The parish outreach will get the bulk of our Christmas fund.
Advent begins this weekend, and it should be a time of quietening-down, of expectation born of introspection and prayer, and yet those straining to hear the voices of prophecy and heralding angels hear only “buy, buy, buy!”.
Somewhere between the excesses of the Occupy Wall Street crowd and the excesses of the Black Friday Shoppers, there is balance and reason. But increasingly, our culture can only swing between the two extremes.
The ride is making me sick. I want off.
Exactly, the stores are open with the early sales because the people want it. And a lot of those people are buying things for their kids or family members, not in some scheme to accumulate tons of possessions for themselves. But singling out the bad apples isnt sensational and doesnt get internet traffic.
Just stay home , eat leftovers , and don’t let it bother you.
These people want to be out there and no one is forcing them to do it. We have the liberty to shop or not. Hating free commerce is a collectivist reflex.
I enjoyed it immensely. Took a nice bike ride, hung Christmas lights, went to one of Tucson’s best restaurants for lunch, and went to a museum to check out a bunch of rock and roll pictures. And everything after the bike ride was with the wife. Great day.
Not to mention the $250 laptops with hot (18W) AMD E-350 processors in them. But people can still use it on their lap without proper venting since it will shut down at 90C.
Plus, what if a group of friends or family, who use shopping time to bond with each other, enjoy going out on a day like the Super Bowl for shopping. Everyone out there is not a soulless bastard who doesnt know the meaning of Thanksgiving or has forgotten about Christ.
You’re welcome! The smaller beds were less, of course, but we have a greyhound!
About 6 or 7 hrs ago I got totally fed up with Christmas. The stress and spending all that money on crap no one needs got to me. It had been coming on for years. Lol. So, anyway I told all the family and friends that participate in Christmas at my house.....we are not doing gifts anymore except for the small children. Everyone sighed from relief, they were as sick of it as I was.
I really enjoy Christmas now. We have a huge open house on Christmas Eve and serve tamales, rice, beans, and drinks which is open to all friends and relatives. Then we have a small family dinner the next day and enjoy the children opening their presents.
I love Christmas now!
It might be an isolated case, but right now, I think the Holiday shopping season may be really bad news for retailers.
That's right. Christmas is on the way to join the DoDo bird. Soon Ramadan will be the major religious holiday and there are no provisions for Black Friday, Thanksgiving or any such thing. On those days, everyone will stay home and vacuum & shampoo their prayer rugs.
(((((JPB))))))
I don’t participate in any of the nonsense...not much into material goods. I would find it more entertaining if the stores put out random specials on random days between Thanksgiving and Christmas...more of a treasure hunt aspect for people that enjoy this sort of thing...
I think that’s a great solution. I love the idea of a big open house on Christmas Eve and a simple, heartfelt Christmas day. I’m going to try that next year. It sounds like I don’t need to wish you a Merry Christmas; you’re already doing it! But thanks for the good idea and Merry Christmas!
No one here is hating free commerce. I think the point of the article is to ridicule unbridled greed. Perhaps you ought to read it again.
Greed is a sin, you know.
We do something similar for Christmas. My mom (one of 7 kids) make a huge Christmas Eve dinner and the whole extended family piles into her house. The small kids get gifts & I excanhfe only with my godparents.
Then, we go to Mass Christmas morning. I have a 4 year old - Christmas morning for her is about Mass & celebrating the gift of Jesus, not opening presents and playing with toys she’ll be bored with in a month.
People have really lost that sense of the true meaning if Christmas. It’s sad. I plan to spend Advent praying for a deep conversion in our culture. I think the Black Friday BS shows how far we’ve really sunk.
“I need more stuff!”
/sarc
90c?! Ouch! I’d never let my equipment get to 90c...
Also reminds me...several years ago a buddy of mine on IRC had a Pismo that ran around 55-60c. He called it the “nad roaster”.
You would be really surprised how many people have nowhere to go Christmas Eve and wind up sitting home alone. We have the same people that come every year and then you never know who will just show up out of the blue. Sounds like you would enjoy it too. And a very merry Christmas to you.
There.
Fixed it for you.
Remember the wise quote of "Stupid is as ...
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