It’s that time of the year again: battling people at Target over the latest electronic to make sure you receive the love you’re dying for from that certain family member.
While the term Black Friday showed up in 1951 talking about workers calling in sick the day after Thanksgiving, it didn’t start to gain traction until the 1980s.
Throughout the years many have become more focused on purchasing gifts, or tackling others in line, for items on sale during the holidays. These holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are meant to be times spent with family and to cherish what we have around us.
While Thanksgiving does seem like day to just pig out on a smörgåsbord of food, it is a day to reflect on what we have in our lives, and to share traditions with our families. Sitting around with your family or close friends and going around the table to tell everyone what you are thankful for is the whole gist of the holiday. Next to stuffing your face with turkey and cranberry sauce.
While the December holidays may be portrayed as holidays where gifts are given to others, many seem to have taken advantage of that opportunity as it is all they looked forward to now. Yes, getting excited about receiving gifts is normal, but it should not be the main focus of the holiday. If anything, gift giving should be more valuable than receiving a gift.
These holidays should be focused on coming together with families, having fun and laughing as you relive memorable moments. Rather than spending time with your family after eating on Thanksgiving, many people end up leaving just to wait in lines for early sales.
Every year, people demolish stores across the world. Crazed by the Black Friday hype, people go as far as camping outside stores, aggressively pushing and shoving, cutting through lines and getting into fights—but over what?
Viral videos surface each year showing people fighting for things like the bigger and better TVs, game consoles and electronics. One of the most viral videos happened last year when a Victoria’s Secret employee was preparing and waiting to survive the experience of working Black Friday but was not prepared for people to push and shove each other for fleece hoodies that were on sale. Although the price of the hoodies was a good deal, $95 to $35, people grabbed whatever they could grab, not caring that they were terrorizing the employee, who had to jump on to the display to avoid getting trampled over.
Is it really necessary to act like wild animals on Black Friday? Is it worth getting hurt over? When it comes to Black Friday, there are no boundaries. People think it’s life or death if they cannot get their hands on that InstaPot that is for half price from the original. But is it necessary to grab three of those, not allowing other people to have a chance at a good deal? I mean what are you going to do with three pots, re-sell them for a much higher price than you got them for?
There is no telling how Black Friday will be this year, but it will most likely be the same: people throwing fits, threatening people, yelling, kicking and screaming for that Lego set to make their child happy for a few days before they ask for something else.
