At Least Make It a Good Excuse!

A few days ago, I naively posted on Target's Facebook page that "Target should be closed on Thanksgiving so that employees can enjoy the holiday with their families."  I wondered if Target would take down the posting.  But no need.  A couple of days later, by email I was informed of the following comments:

"I'm shopping Thanksgiving."

"Why do (sic) care if they open or not?  It's their business."

and the ever popular:

"Some people actually want to work."

At least Facebook Target shoppers remained civil.  Maybe that barrier would have been crossed if I had been arguing against opening at whatever wee hours on Black Friday.

In retrospect, I am surprised and glad that my posting only elicited those three comments.  I was disappointed that not a single Target fan posted that they were happy to wait till Friday to shop so that employees could take the day off.  Anyway, in the interest of raising the level of discourse, I would like to make a few suggestions to others tempted to defend the practice of shopping on this family holiday.  I would like to suggest that the excuse at least be kept in line with the spirit of Thanksgiving.  For example:

"My employer pays me so little that I would be unable to buy my family presents if I didn't shop those Thanksgiving Day sales."

or:

"I work seven days a week and getting Thanksgiving off is the only chance I will have to shop for Christmas."

or:

"I am not really shopping; I am spreading goodwill to the unfortunates who are employed by (state name of mean-spirited company)."

I truly hope you will stay away from the Thanksgiving Grinches on the holiday, and maybe even on the curious but aptly named "Black Friday."  Spend the day with family and friends, or by helping those in need.  Spend the day alone reading a good book, watching a football game, taking a brisk walk on the beach, catching up on sleep.

There really is no television or computer sale that is worth taking people away from what was once known as the last commercial free holiday... or was that Halloween?

Happy Thanksgiving.

A Corporate Thanksgiving -- Or Not

I had been planning on writing today about Thanksgiving v. greed.  When I checked my emails, I found that someone, somehow, has deleted the blog I had posted on The Charleston Patch on Monday.  The article was about shopping on Thanksgiving, and about choosing to give our holiday business to those who respect their employees enough to give them a living wage and time to spend with family.  It may have been an error, but I am tending to think that I ruffled some feathers, and that the feathers didn't belong to a Thanksgiving turkey.

As I get older I am tending to focus ever more on the quality of my remaining years.  I am more likely to want to spend time reading a good book than cleaning house.  Although I have to pinch pennies, I am glad that I am retired and no longer under the control of a boss.  I am very happy to finally have the time to write, and the internet and blogosphere where I can share my thoughts with others.

The shame is just how much time we are forced to spend trying to make ends meet.  Jumping through hoops to keep a job.  Paying more and more for things that provide less -- less quality of life, less security, less peace of mind, less joy.  The greed that grows each year as corporations continue to get fatter and more powerful is a tragedy.  It is wrong that so few can control so many, and do so in their own interest.  Our health care is driven by the profit motive, and the movement to privatize and profit is continuing to encroach and jeopardize the ability to enjoy the best education available.

So this holiday season, I will continue to ask that you do not shop at those stores who do not pay a living wage and who force their employees to work on that day that has up till now been left for the freedom to enjoy one's family, or just a day of rest.

And finally, I am glad that, despite whoever banished my words from the Charleston Patch, I am able to send them to you here.

Happy Thanksgiving.

...And It Still Is...

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a tradition in my home.  It is the only time of the year that I will sit through three hours of marketing.  When the kids were small, there was no (very loud) heckling.  Now that they are grown, we do our own little version of MST3K.

The Macy's Day Parade really does highlight the worst of the worst of Americana.  This year, for example they even isolated their diversity segment -- no Native Americans or Hispanics scattered throughout the parade; they were all collected about 3/4 of the way through.

But every year, they have one awesome event.
 
This year there was Arlo Guthrie singing This Land Is Your Land. Arlo is a Thanksgiving tradition, and if your family doesn't listen to Alice's Restaurant on Thanksgiving, then you might as well not have turkey.  And his father Woody Guthrie wrote the freedom songs of the 20th century.

And this year, when the Supreme Court has declared corporations to be individuals, and Congress refused to increase the national debt by funding medical care for 9/11 first responders, there was Arlo reminding us that this land, indeed, was our land.

He even sang a verse that I believe was a new one, and spoke to us in 2010.  But I could not provide it here; Macy's blocked out the you-tube videos, due to copyright infringement.

Irony abounds, and while this land still does belong to you and me, we need to continue to fight for it, and I am thankful that Arlo was there to sing it to us.