Giving Until it Hurts
By Jan Larson (11/28/05)
The Thanksgiving holiday officially marks the beginning of the season of excess in America. After sitting down with family and friends on Thanksgiving for a frenzied day of consumption, the madness shifts into high gear on “Black Friday.”
Black Friday is the term used by retailers for the Friday after Thanksgiving marking the point in the year when profits (hopefully) turn positive. Black Friday is also when bloated shoppers descend on malls and stores across the country in the wee hours of the morning in the frantic search for the perfect, bargain-priced Christmas gifts for runny-nosed little Johnny, the trio of ungrateful teenagers and cranky Aunt Bertha.
I, for one, have not and will not ever drag myself out of bed on an otherwise perfectly good Friday morning to run the gauntlet of crazed shoppers that, completely ignoring the point of holiday gift-giving, act like hyenas fighting over a carcass as they rampage through the nation’s malls and retail establishments.
Black Friday 2005 got off to a rousing start when a woman was apparently stampeded at a Wal-Mart near Grand Rapids, Michigan during the 5:00 a.m. rush. A man had to be wrestled to the ground after cutting in line at a Wal-Mart in Orlando. At least no one was shot this year fighting over a Tickle Me Elmo or a George Foreman grill.
Reports from Black Friday 2005 indicate that sales were brisk and the nation’s retailers are looking forward to robust holiday sales. Considering that retail sales are one of the major drivers of the U. S. economy, early morning stampedes at the nation’s malls can only be a good sign.
While there is certainly nothing wrong with the practice of gift giving, it certainly seems to me that the exchanging of gifts that are expected diminishes the value of those gifts just a bit. A lot of people, myself included, dread the thought of holiday shopping and, frankly, trying to buy a gift for someone that has “everything” seems a waste of time and energy, the notion that “it’s the thought that counts” notwithstanding.
My siblings and I decided years ago that the best gift we could give each other at Christmas was the gift that relieved the others from the obligation of gift giving. Likewise, my mother has also opted out of the obligatory gift giving/receiving protocol. None of us seems to have suffered as a result and we certainly don’t carry any scars from any holiday shopping battles.
The most egregious of obligatory gift giving practices (in which I have also participated) is the exchanging of monetary gifts under the pretense that “you know what you want better than I do.” Money isn’t the most thoughtful of gifts but, of course, it is the thought that counts. A cash gift is obviously appreciated by many in lieu of no gift at all, but if I give you a check for $50 and you give me a check for $50, our respective “thoughts” have pretty much been cancelled out.
Instead of exchanging trinkets of some sort or large items that neither of us would wish we had should we find ourselves packing moving boxes again at some point in the future, my wife and I generally treat ourselves to a holiday vacation for just the two of us. The time we spend together is worth more than anything that we could buy on Black Friday and it doesn’t require gift-wrap.
We also use the holiday gift-giving season as a time to give to those that are suffering or are less fortunate. With the war in Iraq continuing through another holiday season and with many still with their lives upside down from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, maybe this is the year that more Americans will think about giving gifts to those in need instead of giving gifts only to those that are just in “want.”
Copyright ©2005 Jan A. Larson All rights reserved.
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