Black Friday – Marilyn R. Gardner

Ten Things You Can Do on Friday (Instead of Going Shopping)

Published on November 27, 2013December 4, 2013 by Marilyn13 Comments

For those who live in the United States, it’s that time of the year again — that time where one day we gather, thankful for all that has been given us, basking in the warmth of family, friends, and food. And the next, we beat down our fellow-man, mobbing our way into stores to earnestly shop for that which we don’t need.

For those from other parts of the world, the day after Thanksgiving is called ‘Black Friday’. It’s a day that begins the night of Thanksgiving as employees are called away from their celebrations to ready themselves and their stores for the onslaught of shoppers. These shoppers will begin their quest for more material goods right when Cinderella loses her shoe and turns back into a scullery maid – the stroke of midnight.

I’m harsh. Yes – I think ‘Black Friday’ deserves harsh. I don’t think there is anything redeeming about this day and none of us are the better for it. And I can honestly say, I’ve never gone shopping on Black Friday. It just isn’t worth it.

So here are some thoughts on what we can do instead of going shopping. Please add your own to the list through the comments!

Bring out that one thousand piece jigsaw puzzle that’s sitting in your closet and complete it while drinking hot cider and enjoying leftover turkey sandwiches.
Write letters – yes, paper and pen letters – to three people you care about. Why three? It’s a random number but paper and pen letters are collectibles these days. Imagine the look on your friend’s or relative’s face as they go to the mail box and see a handwritten envelope. Pure shock and delight.
Make homemade granola to give as gifts to people. Here are a couple of recipes you can try. Homemade granola is a great gift and the bonus is that you can keep some for yourself.
Sort through a couple of closets. Christmas is coming and clutter needs to go. Get into those closets and sort, get rid of, throw away. The catharsis is unbelievable.
Watch the Anne of Green Gables series on Netflix. Or Call the Midwife, or Downton Abbey. Something that will keep you immersed in stories and dreams.
Go hiking – put on sensible shoes (I say this because I don’t always do that) and find some hiking trails or take a long walk in the woods. Perhaps you’re like me and you need to drive to find hiking trails- then drive and walk all that energy that would have been used getting more of what you don’t need. Take a thermous of hot cocoa with you and some sandwiches in case you get hungry.
Clean – God knows our houses need it! We’ve just had Thanksgiving and food and stuff are everywhere. So take out dust pan, broom,and duster and channel your energy into creating a haven of clean.
Call your mom. Call your Grandma. Call your Aunt. Use the time to reconnect with others who are escaping the frenetic pace of Black Friday. Then bake bread – Holy, life-giving bread.
Play games: Boggle, Guesstures, Bananagrams, Taboo, Settlers of Catan. So many choices, perhaps some you’ve never opened. Take them out and play games.
Use the day to just rest and read. Jhumpa Lahiri has a new book out: The Lowlands, a sad but good read. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a fabulous little book that will be a family favorite I guarantee. Curl up into a ball on the couch and read, read, read. Let the kids play on the floor beside you – Through a sheet over your dining room table and they have a ready-made tent where they can spend the day imagining. And you? You’ll sit and read and relax and bask in all things good, all things calm.

This is a simple list. But isn’t it time we changed this cultural norm and took back the Friday after Thanksgiving?

Readers from other countries – I’m curious! When you hear about our Black Friday, what do you think? How would you advise us to live on that day? And Readers from the U.S. – what about you? What would you add to the list? What do you plan to do on the Friday following Thanksgiving?

9 Reasons To Stay Home On Black Friday (And Forget The Damn HDTV) (huffingtonpost.com)

Walmart Convictions – A Black Friday Piece

Published on November 23, 2012November 23, 2012 by Marilyn1 Comment

About two years ago, my husband Lowell, declared that we needed to stop shopping at Walmart. In an effort to buy into his latest conviction, I asked him what one book I should read, or what one movie I should watch. I needed convincing.

Allow me to recommend to you the documentary that Lowell suggested entitled Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices. The documentary builds a case that suggests that Walmart successfully exploits the working poor here in our nation as well as the working poor in various countries where they have their products manufactured (China, Bangladesh, Guatemala etc). According to the film makers they also tend to drain community resources, provide health care that their employees can’t afford, refuse to pay their employees a livable wage, push local competitors out of business, and give back much less, if any, to the cities where they establish themselves. As a result of sexual discrimination and environmental negligence they’ve been engaged in several lawsuits and fines from the EPA. This documentary will break your heart with compassion and disbelief.

Although Walmart employees have in the past tried to speak out against the injustices they experience, they’ve been threatened and silenced. Today though is a momentous day. Today hundreds of Walmart workers are standing up against the establishment. They are striking on, perhaps the most significant shopping day of the year, Black Friday.

This week my husband Lowell received the attached email. It outlines more details of the strike and ways you and I can be involved.

It seems like the right thing to do…a quiet way to bask in the euphoric after-glow of too much turkey…a response rooted in gratitude for the freedoms we have…. It seems like a way to make a statement that says that how people are treated matters. On any other day of the year I want to shop where I know the employees are served with as much respect as the customer.

Today I want to sit at home, maybe do some laundry, make some soup. Today I too want to strike against this day of greed and craziness. Today I want to pray for the brave Walmart employees who are exercising their voice. Today I want to remember that there really is a high cost for low prices…and it’s a price I’m not willing to pay.

Dear Lowell,

This coming Friday, courageous workers at hundreds of Walmart stores around the United States will go on strike.

You likely know the story: Walmart employees earn low wages, receive hardly any benefits, and have little to no voice in their stores. When they’ve attempted to organize a union in the past to advocate for a fairer workplace, they’ve faced intimidation and layoffs.

This year, Walmart is even making some employees leave their Thanksgiving family gatherings to report to work so it can get the Black Friday shopping mayhem started early!

Nice one, Walmart.

Last week, we released a video that encouraged Americans to Choose Family over Frenzy on Black Friday. Rather than head to the mall, we suggested you share leftovers, play games, or enjoy a family tradition.

Today, we’re also asking you to join us in supporting these brave Walmart workers.

You can Sponsor a Striker and her family by buying a gift card for food to offset the wages she’ll likely lose from striking.
You can also check to see if there’s a Walmart protest near you. We know the workers and their supporters would be happy to have you!

There’s no reason Walmart can’t treat its workers better. It makes gobs of money every year and its founders — the Waltons — are one of the richest families in the world. As a matter of fact, in 2010 the Waltons controlled more wealth than the bottom 40% of all Americans!

So, what do you say we show the Walton family a lesson in giving thanks by offering their workers some solidarity this week.

Thanks for your support!

Sincerely,

Annie, Michael, Allison, Renee, Naomi, Bill and Nicole
The Story of Stuff Project Team

P.S. If you haven’t watched or shared our Black Friday video, please take a minute to do that this week. And be sure to sign the pledge to stay home and share a picture of your mall-free Black Friday.

Black Friday woes for Walmart? (cbsnews.com)
Walmart hit by Black Friday strikes across 46 states, say protesters (guardian.co.uk)

Re-post – Earnestly Looking For Something I Don’t Need – Black Friday Comes Again

Published on November 23, 2012November 23, 2012 by Marilyn10 Comments

It comes around like turkey and pumpkin pie. It’s as consistent as Thanksgiving itself. It begins promoting itself weeks before it actually happens. “It” is Black Friday. And while this is a re-post from last year I mean every word of it. For those of you who are not American– materialism is multicultural, we’ve just perfected and packaged it in ribbon and shiny paper in the west so I beg you to not judge too harshly.

I ran into a store a few days ago with a specific item in mind to buy. I quickly found the area of the store and the right size and began narrowing down the decision. As I looked up from my task,I caught the eye of a woman across from me. She hesitantly smiled and shook her head. “I am earnestly looking for something I don’t need!” She exclaimed “But isn’t this cute?”

“Earnestly looking for something I don’t need”. What a great and descriptive phrase! She’d probably wandered in off her lunch hour and the more she looked the more earnest she became. How do I know this so well? Because I’ve been there too many times to count. Those times when I wander in, knowing full well I don’t need anything, but how can I not get something with a 25% Friends and Family coupon burning in my hand? It’s getting hotter just waiting to be used on the thing that I don’t need.

And that my friends is Black Friday. Millions of people earnestly looking for something they don’t need. I rarely break out in judgement the way this will sound, but if Black Friday isn’t a picture of a schizophrenic society, I don’t know what is. A society that on the one hand worries about unemployment, personal budgets, and the economy, while the other hand is earnestly looking for something it doesn’t need.

A society holding its money close, for fear it won’t have enough to pay for that which it doesn’t need.

I am the first to fall in this area. For years I would bring home things that languished in closets or drawers, but I had picked them out so earnestly that I couldn’t admit that I didn’t need them.

I am sure that some people find this fun. Some people love the excitement of standing in line at midnight with their lattes and pillows. They bond with the crowd, until there’s someone who cuts in line and the bond is quickly broken with a curse and shove. At that point it could begin to resemble Tahrir Square. They bond until they are both fighting over the same 52″ flat screen TV selling for mere pennies. It will replace the 40″ flat screen TV that they got a year ago at a Black Friday event. They bond until someone is killed in the stampede, trampled to death from people earnestly looking for something they don’t need.

Interesting that this day should follow one of America’s favorites — a day devoted to thanks.

A national holiday specifically set aside to give thanks, to remember. What happens between pumpkin pie with whipped cream and midnight, when our base nature breaks out and we pummel the pavement in search of stuff?

So – I’m finished. I will say no more about Black Friday. But I will post this right when Black Friday begins, at the stroke of midnight, to remind myself that as I earnestly look for something I don’t need, I’m completely missing all that I have.

And with that…A Happy Black Friday to you. May you earnestly find that which you are looking for or may you rest in the U2 song “But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for~”

The Link between Thanksgiving Gluttony and Black Friday Insanity (psychologytoday.com)

Earnestly Looking for Something I Don’t Need – A Look at Black Friday

Published on November 25, 2011November 16, 2012 by Marilyn13 Comments

Interesting that this day should follow one of America’s favorites. A day devoted to thanks. A national holiday specifically set aside to give thanks, to remember. What happens between pumpkin pie with whipped cream and midnight, when our base nature breaks out and we pummel the pavement in search of stuff?

And with that…A Happy Black Friday to you. May you earnestly find that which you are looking for! (And at least try to find some savings with this Lenovo coupon!)