Next week we will celebrate the day when we fill our
stomachs with our national bird, fill our heads with televised football, and
now have more opportunities to fill our shopping bags with stuff. Some people
might give thanks, but I suspect many won’t. It’s a day off for turkey,
football and shopping.
Why will more stores be open on Thanksgiving Day? In my
opinion, the answer is because a lot of people will go shopping, in person or
online. Black Friday is becoming Black Thursday. I will be glad to be with my
family even though one of my daughters will have to leave the festivities and
go to work.
In this time of contrasts of plenteousness and less than
enough for many, I am struck with the messages I receive from our culture. Not
just turkey, football and shopping, but messages that we can have more. This
comes home to me when I watch HGTV on television. I started to watch this
channel after I bought my house in May. It gave me some ideas about how to make
my small old house more up to date and beautiful even though I loved it
already.
That’s the HGTV message. Whatever you live in, you can
make it better. And what makes it better is renovating or buying your home. In
this land of plenty, we can tear down some walls, put in new fireplaces and
appliances, install lovely hardwood floors, or just buy them somewhere else. I
am amazed at the purchase prices of some of the homes I see on this channel. I
also am amazed at the sense of entitlement that is projected by the people who
buy or renovate. They don’t settle for Adequate, they want the Newest. They
complain about kitchens and bathrooms being outdated. They insist on open
concept designs. They hate basement laundry rooms. They want million dollar
ocean views. They might be thinking they can be Donald Trump and that it is
okay to live like the Donald.
The land of promise is becoming the land of excess, at
least for some people, but not for all. The other side of HGTV (not within HGTV’s
scope) is inability to buy homes by people who struggle to make a living, not
just beautiful homes but any homes. Does a low income person care about
hardwood floors and trendy bathrooms? I think that person might be glad just to
live somewhere.
I bought my new draperies from JC Penney and new living
room carpet from Sergenians, but I did it because they were replacing old, worn
draperies and carpeting. I bought them on days other than Thanksgiving. The old
carpet and curtains were dated and damaged. That is different from spending excessive
amounts of money on items that go far beyond adequacy or need. Yes, people can
have a standard of living that does more than fill a need, but I see plenty of
opportunities to curb some of the excess.
God has rained many blessings on us. So has the
capitalist system. Thanksgiving Day might be improved by thanking God for our
blessings and curbing the allure of the economic system for one day. I like
HGTV as entertainment and suggestions for home improvement, but I am not
enthralled about the underlying message.
Okay, folks. Let’s go to the store when we must. But let’s
not do it on Thanksgiving Day. We can hold it at turkey and football.
Well, I won't be thanking God (not my religion), but I will be stating what I am thankful for when it comes my turn as we hold hands around the Thanksgiving Table with family and extended family of both my husband and I. We'll be playing games and spending time together, though most of us will never watch or bring up football (we're not sport enthusiasts). We will not be shopping Thursday or Friday, except maybe for that missing can of whipped cream. But we will be missing the two family members who were told they were working M-F at Walmart this week and so cannot join us as traveling is too far and they will be exhausted. Your thoughts are spot on, and though we are a different family with different traditions, I am with you on this shopping business! Well said.
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