November 25, 2016 - News Post

Did everyone get some fantastic deals this morning?

Here in the US, today is Black Friday. Or as I like to think of it, the day we all judge people for their shopping habits. For a few short hours every year, stores drop prices juuuuuust enough to make it worth murdering your fellow shoppers. Everyone pretends to be above it, but secretly we all get excited for this wild day of vapid consumerism.

Whether we brave the crowds for frivolous items like small televisions, or wait in lines for absolute essentials like large televisions, people show their true colors today.

Now before you think I'm getting all judgmental towards everyone’s judginess, know that I not only made some savvy purchases of my own, but half the reason I went was to people watch. It's fun to sum up a fellow human's entire existence in one 10 second encounter. I saw a pickup truck loaded with TVs, cars that would sooner run a crowd over than risk missing a sale across town, and a lady blocking a mob of fellow shoppers by purposely shoving her cart at a 90 degree angle.

In the end, I spent three hours pushing my way through desperate shoppers, all in order to save 27 dollars on three movies that I've already seen.

This probably isn’t healthy for our society. I know it, you know it, the poor exhausted employees know it. But despite the chaos and desperation, the lines and the greed, I saw something in public that I haven’t seen in months: Happiness.

Was it fleeting and cheap? Possibly. Were we suckered in by a generation of commercials training us to love shopping? Undoubtedly.

And you know what? I’ll take what I can get. It’s been a long year and reality is for every other day. I may have a different opinion of all this tomorrow... but for now, for one day, for a few short hours, it’s fun to say:

“Hey, I want stuff too. Now get out of my way.”

-Jeff