WARNING: There may be some graphic language in some clips, though we did our best to weed out the worst.
Black Friday, 2014. Where will you be? Fast asleep, exhausted from hosting too many guests for Thanksgiving, or in the stores, fighting over discounted televisions and towels?
What does it say about our culture when a fight breaks out over undies?
Is it even safe to go to Walmart on Black Friday at Midnight?
Anyone can understand the need to struggle for survival. The poorest person still needs shelter and food. But does a television fall under the category of a basic need? Is it something worth fighting over?
What is the significance of $5 earphones? Is it the item that is the goal or is it all about getting a bargain?
Maybe it’s not about survival or bargains. Maybe it’s about excitement.
http://youtu.be/F1k9_pjfkPQ
Maybe it’s about having the ultimate Black Friday 2014 story to tell your friends for years to come. You want to have a story no one can top.
Or maybe it really is about the bargain. $20 off a printer? Is that really worth contusions and lacerations ($10 words for bruises and cuts, and you just got them FREE.)
Going ape over towels in Indianola, Mississippi. Towels are good. But are they worth a trip to the emergency room? You may want to add the words “drip dry” to your vocabulary.
Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for all we have. Black Friday is about getting what we want.
Did you know there’s a website that tracks Black Friday deaths?
Yes. People actually die fighting over bargain towels, televisions, and tablecloths.
Some parents bring their kids with them to the Black Friday sales because who is going to babysit children at midnight? Especially on Black Friday when everyone wants to be at the mall? Is the mall at midnight on Black Friday a safe place for children? Is it a learning experience?
A parent could teach a child how to angle for bargains. A parent could teach a child how to avoid the worst of the fray. Or, a parent could teach a child how ugly some people get when it comes to saving money.
Maybe that’s not a lesson that needs to be illustrated on more than one occasion?
What do you think?
About Varda Epstein
Varda Meyers Epstein serves as editor in chief of Kars4Kids Parenting. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Varda is the mother of 12 children and is also a grandmother of 12. Her work has been published in The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The Learning Site, The eLearning Site, and Internet4Classrooms.