News of the Day: Black Friday Starting Before Thanksgiving Ends
If you are one who desires to simplify your life and lead a life less driven by consumerism, avoid television the week of Thanksgiving! I have been amazed at how obsessed the news media is concerning “black Friday.” It is so bad that Thanksgiving has become nothing more than an unavoidable bump in the road to the Christmas shopping season.
Folks, we need to take a step back and realize that there is more to life than shopping. Still, listen to our political leaders, and they will try to convince you that from an economic perspective there is so much riding on the holiday shopping season that everyone needs shop, shop, shop in order to support the economy. Am I the only one who thinks this is warped?
Earlier this week, the Congress failed to agree on spending cuts equalling $1.2 Trillion. No one wants to deal with the difficult reality that this nation is broke. Leaders should be encouraging our people to be frugal this Christmas season and seek out ways to celebrate Christmas without spending themselves into debt. Instead, it’s the opposite. No one wants to deal with the unpleasant reality of financial bankruptcy. As a country, we continually kick the can a little further down the road hoping that somehow, everything will fix itself before the entire house comes crashing down on top of us. Sooner or later, we must draw a line in the sand and say enough. America has become a consumer-oriented economy, and the consumers are broke.
What would happen if the majority (the 99 percent) agreed to shop only with cash this Christmas season? What would happen if the 99 percent agreed to give $1 to missions or a charity for every $1 spent on Christmas gifts? What would happen if the 99 percent agreed to invest one hour in real time with friends and family for every hour they spend shopping or planning to shop?
What ideas do you have to curb the compulsion to shop?
The Station
Many years ago I cut the following article from an Ann Landers column. It was an article she had printed many times before, and was reprinting it again at the request of a reader. I've always found this article to be a blessing. Enjoy.
The Station
by Robert J. Hastings
Tucked away in our subconscious minds is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long, long trip that almost spans the continent. We're traveling by passenger train, and out the windows we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hills, of biting winter and blazing summer and cavorting spring and docile fall.
But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour we will pull into the station. There will be bands playing, and flags waving. And once we get there so many wonderful dreams will come true. So many wishes will be fulfilled and so many pieces of our lives finally will be neatly fitted together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes for loitering ... waiting, waiting, waiting, for the station.
However, sooner or later we must realize there is no one station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us.
"When we reach the station, that will be it !" we cry. Translated it means, "When I'm 18, that will be it ! When I buy a new 450 SL Mercedes Benz, that will be it ! When I put the last kid through college, that will be it ! When I have paid off the mortgage, that will be it ! When I win a promotion, that will be it ! When I reach the age of retirement, that will be it ! I shall live happily ever after !"
Unfortunately, once we get it, then it disappears. The station somehow hides itself at the end of an endless track.
"Relish the moment" is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118:24: "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad. Rather, it is regret over yesterday or fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who would rob us of today.
So, stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot oftener, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more and cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough.