Today is Black Friday, the ultimate shopping day for millions of people. These are the people that will ultimately make or break the fortunes of American retailers. For some odd reason, whatever happens in the marketplace on this ritualized day after Thanksgiving sets the pace and drives the economy for the next 30 days, or until Christmas.
Even as I type these words in the early morning darkness, ordinary citizens are awake and priming themselves to become hunters and gatherers once more; all vestiges of civilized behavior will disappear as they charge into the shopping fray. The newspapers will then report that some people were injured when the doors opened and there will be photographs of people fighting over prime bits of merchandise.
Let me say that I don’t intend to be anywhere near a shopping center today. For the introverted, this is definitely a day to avoid shopping. For those who wish to make a statement about excess, it’s also a day to Buy Nothing… I just checked their website and they have a countdown clock; now showing less than a minute to 5, the hour that the doors will open and the hordes will descend upon the hapless clerks. Oh! The humanity…!
And speaking of Introversion versus Extroversion, my extroverted daughter brought her karaoke machine to our holiday celebration yesterday. Classic! Within an hour, the Introverts were huddled together in another part of the house. But what a great celebration it was, with lots of children, grandchildren and laughter. And nothing makes this grandfather happier than seeing his family all gathered together.
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