Aging & Attitude

Forget about that seductive tryptophan induced nap on Thanksgiving evening, we are going shopping. Yes, after watching football all day, get in the car, start the engine, and be the first on line. The doors open at 8PM for Sears and Toys R Us, and 9PM for Wal-Mart and Target.

Twitter and Facebook chatted about a petition Target employees were circulating, in the hope corporate would rescind, to no avail.

Target is the second largest discount retailer in the United States, Wal-Mart the first. Target has 1,763 stores and 365,000 employees; a company spoke person said only one-third will have to work.

Both companies’ net income, or bottom line profit, is in the billions. Target’s CEO’s salary/incentive bonus is 24 million dollars.

Why would retail corporations want to open their doors hours earlier? To increase sales and profit. Profit is the reason to widen the gateway/window for purchasing holiday gifts, and it is knocking on the Thanksgiving Day Door. For several years, profit has snuck in the back around midnight, looking to be center stage and more important than family time together.

This year there is no pretending, Americans value stuff and are puffed when purchased on sale.

Thanksgiving is a federal holiday, a public holiday; however, the government cannot prevent businesses from opening, Blue Laws do.

In 1961, Chief Justice Warren upheld Maryland’s Blue Law of closed doors on Sunday not for religion reasons but “to provide a uniform day of rest for all citizens” McGowan v. Maryland

Thanksgiving is a uniform day of rest for all citizens. Retail should be closed.

I was getting agitated, upset about the future and wondered, would our great grandkids have fond Thanksgiving memories as I had.

Then I read Chris Hamilton’s post Gold Happens When Your Characters Are Wrong and considered being mistaken.

I lack the ability to see the future, and might be wrong.

People may not text instead of talk at the table, perhaps linger after dinner, longing for that turkey on white bread sandwich after dinner. It is possible people will not be seduced into buying more stuff and calling it a holiday celebration.

Perhaps Wall Street will forego profit, stay home and play Monopoly with fake money and experience the real deal.

A blizzard could deposit a blanket of snow over all of North America, or Chicken Little could cry “The sky is falling, the sky is falling”.                                                      

                                                                                     ….just saying