Black Thursday or Black Thanksgiving or whatever you want to call it....make something of it

 There's been a lot of uproar among my friends about stores opening up on Thanksgiving.  i have to admit, that in some ways, i'm very neutral about the whole situation.  i do believe, in a perfect world, that some days really should be sacred like Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc...and places should remain closed.  However, we do not live in a perfect world, so that is not really an option anymore.

i am not going to judge anyone who goes out shopping on turkey day.  i'm definitely not going to be among the throngs of people joining in, but that is my choice as much as it is theirs.  As for people having to work, i hope it is an option for them and not a requirement....to force someone to work retail on a day such as that would be wrong, but giving them the opportunity if they wanted to earn extra money i think is fine.  Of course, in the cold corporate world, i doubt this is true in many cases.

So, if you intend on going shopping on Thanksgiving, try to find some ways to make it count.  Actually the same is true for Black Friday and all other shopping days til Christmas.

If you have an elderly neighbor or relative that might not be able to get out as much, ask them if you can pick up some things for them while you're out hunting the bargains.

Find a church or some other organization that has an angel tree and buy some things to make a stranger's holiday special.

Contact a nursing home or an assisted living facility and see if you can help any of the residents with some holiday shopping.

With everything on sale, homeless shelters could use some supplies and clothing.

Animal shelters might need things to that you can find on sale.

We all have a few friends who are teachers...and since many things in their classrooms are paid for out of their own pockets...ask them if they need any more supplies.

i'm sure there are many more scenarios i could think of to add to this, but you get the general idea of it.  if you're going shopping, just remember that it's Thanksgiving and be thankful that you have the means to be out and about taking advantage of sales...not every one does...so take a few minutes and do something for someone else while you're out.