Tuesday, December 15, 2015

I'm a hippie and I'm proud! (by anon)

What do people even mean when they call me a hippie?

Yes I am deeply spiritual, yes I speak of and feel vibrations, yes I wear crystals. But only because this is what works for me.

My generation needs a new mantra. We need to keep reconstructing our society to make it a more comfortable place to live. Sure, we are an incredibly diverse population and everybody fits into their niche, but it is possible for everyone to be a hippie at heart. Let me explain.

To start, we do indeed need to become more aware of the food we’re eating. Do we even realize how much processed food we’re in taking? Does anybody else feel like a total robot eating plastic food off a belt-line?  Is it a surprise that we develop some type of cancer by the time we’re 50?

And then we have the athletes who work out religiously and eat “healthy,” yet they consume pre-workout and protein shakes. I dare you to read the ingredient label of a typical brand of workout formula. Can you pronounce half of the ingredients? Do you know what a third of them actually are? When did this become okay? I won’t try to convince you to turn vegetarian or vegan, but we need nowhere close to that amount of protein whatsoever. Why are we obsessed with having huge muscles anyways? Before we over-exercise our biceps and triceps, let’s work our brains a little bit more by actually reading a book.

We need to stop declaring to other people how we’re vegetarian and vegan. If that’s how you live your life, do it and don’t discuss it. It IS something to be proud of, but you look like a jackass or a brat when you press it upon other people and they don’t inquire.

To touch on this GMO-organic debate. Yes, I know what GMO stands for. Yes, I understand that some of our vegetables wouldn’t exist without being genetically modified, i.e. broccoli. I realize that they’re not immediately killing us. But if you’re buying bananas at the grocery store, and half of them are labeled organic and the other not, why would you not choose to eat organically? They’re a tad more expensive but why would you pay less for chemicals? Eating organic isn’t “hippie” it’s reverting back to what is natural. Being natural is HUMAN, let’s not forget that we are HUMAN.

We need to be more concerned about recycling, or at least become aware of how we use our resources. For a while, I didn’t believe in recycling or sorting through my garbage before I threw it away. Think of how much garbage we produce daily and weekly, where does it all go? We have to have some sort of cycle that rids our garbage and it somehow all works out in the end.

But that’s not entirely what it’s about. It’s about only using as much water as you need. Whether brushing your teeth or taking a shower, washing the dishes…only use what you need. Turn off the lights or electronics when they’re not in use. We should simply aim to be more conservative, and use things purposefully.

Hippies get teased for believing in rocks and crystals. Um, it’s about time we start cherishing a rock other than a diamond! A diamond is completely corrupt and should lose all of its worth, along with gold. Who started this?? I understand historically that that’s what our currency was backed up with, but now a days, you cannot even turn on the radio without having jeweler commercials nagging you to spend thousands on diamonds because it’s engagement season. Does anyone realize that it’s always engagement season? Do you realize how DEAD the concept of marriage is?

A crystal is timeless, and will never lose its worth to those that acknowledge it. They are valuable because they emit vibrations and frequencies that can be soothing and even healing.

There, I said it: vibration. VIBE. I used to get SO utterly peeved when somebody would say, “Sending you good vibes J” or “I’m getting bad vibes…” Whatever the case. Then I realized, I just have to bite my tongue and not get ticked because vibrations do exist; they’re perpetually all around us and we cannot escape them. I mean, what else is enjoying good music?

But seriously, please stop saying “vibe.”

Yes, good music does exist outside of music festivals. Yes, I love a good music festival. But I will never ever pay hundreds of dollars to go to an over-commercialized event. That is total non-sense. There is more to life than electric music, dubstep, techno, trance, drum and bass. Music festivals are an important part of our expanding generation. They are more than an open field for hippies to go and do a bunch of drugs and roll around in the dirt. It’s an event that like-minded people go where they can enjoy hours of live music night and day, where they can dance fiercely, and express themselves freely.

There’s art being sold and produced around every corner. There are people doing balancing acts, playing with their flowing toys, giving light shows, spinning fire. These things take a huge amount of talent, and/or a countless amount of practice hours! You can dress in the most obnoxious costume or the most fashionable clothes, and you are only there to be accepted and enjoyed.

A hippie enjoys. They are simplistic, they are optimistic, they are happy. They create their own happiness, they are content and confident within themselves, and they want what’s best for everybody. They make choices that help better nature, our planet, our creator. This is something vital that we can all attain.


Don’t you want to?

Sunday, December 13, 2015

The Promise of Freedom (by Rebecca Tutcher)

The drums have sounded in the empty sky
Where ash has bled from the wound of Time.
The war then began with our battle cry
And our Rights are here, just by our side.

The streets have lost the will to move,
The blood is now on our hands.
The world has stopped and we consume
The safety we risked for Freedom Land.
But safety came in a dangerous package
And we sought to unwrap that dreadful gift.
Knowing now it’s the cause of the wreckage,
But the mistake we made we can’t uplift.
The children now rest in silent coves,
Victims of our world they merely lived in.
Innocent numbers, murdered in droves,
As we fought for our right to kill them.

The drums have sounded in the empty sky
And ash burns red with the blood of the lost.
The lives we had sought to save now die
And Hope is gone, stolen by Fire and Frost.

Love is taken and horded for the prestigious few,
The others must simply want in their privacy.
We forbade them any peace and harmony too,
Instead we give them persecution and lunacy.
But the righteous are worth more than lesser men
And the benefits show their place in Freedom Land.
We rose up and took their Rights from them
And kept it held tightly in our worthy hand.
So they shrivel and die in their lack of love.
They wilt and we find from that satisfaction.
We are better, after all, an Eagle to a Dove,
And studiously ignore our own contradiction.

The drums have sounded in the empty sky
Their steady beat now too loud to stand.
Have we done it all, does the end draw nigh?
Have we sacrificed enough for Freedom Land?

No, we have our Rights and the passage was set,
Foregoing sanity for the blissful sense of Freedom.
Our women rose up, but now we forget
The ways in which regulations destroyed them.
A resounding echo of newborn cries
Sound in the fading daylight of memory.
Forced to be born while the mother dies,
Ignoring that conception was done criminally.
Oh, but at least they live, as only one can live
When one resides in a broken home.
At least they live and they have lives to give,
But what is living when we are all alone?

The drums have sounded in the empty sky
Their rhythm broken and dismally haunted.
The drums now beat with a sickening cry,
But, after all, isn’t this what we wanted?

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Shut your political pie-hole, professor! (by anon)

Let’s say you enroll in a class where the professor has a DEFINITE political view, either to the right or to the left, AND is not shy about letting it be known.  The professor is not really interested in having his or her comments debated; they are just meant at jabs and snickers against the opposing party.  Is this right?

I have found, in general, that there are two camps of responses. (A) Students find this deplorable.  They believe that professors should remain as neutral and balanced as possible because it is not their job to try and sway students with their allegiances. (B) Students find this acceptable.  It is not the professor’s job to coddle and protect students from strong, opinionated views.  It is the student’s job to learn how to think through one’s position in light of this challenge.

Here is a student post in line with camp (A).

********
I am normally not one to complain about politics because I believe that an individual will believe what he or she wants to believe and will not have their mind changed by someone ranting about how much they hate the opposing political party. The reason as to why I am bringing this up is due to the fact that I am currently in a class with a professor who constantly makes sarcastic remarks and jokes about a certain politician and the political party as a whole, but if I or anyone else would do such a thing it would be greatly frowned on. It is one thing to have a stance on either side, whether it be the democratic or republican party, but it is going too far when you bash a political party in front of your entire classroom. I just feel that something such as a political stance should be kept in closed doors unless the right place or time comes up. Politics have just always been an argument starter in my opinion, you either are into politics and are sensitive about the subject or you do not pay much attention to it at all. Like I said earlier I am normally not one to complain about things like this but when it is taking from my time to learn in class about a subject I actually enjoy, then it does become an issue for me. If it is such a big deal to talk about religion or other sensitive subjects in class that are considered “offensive” to some people, then I think that it should be against school policy to try and persuade students who to and not to vote for in the next election. In all reality by the professor constantly pushing his thought into our class session, it actually makes me want to vote for the opposite party; let school be a place for teaching the subjects we pay money for and the political debates be left outside the classroom.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

THIS JUST IN! Donald Trump’s Campaign Slogan is: “I’ve Got a Big Dick!” (by anon)

Donald Trump is changing his campaign slogan from “Make America Great Again” to “I’ve Got a Big Dick!”  Ok, not really. But semi-believable, right??  Are you really shocked that I would write that as a possibility?  With all his hyper-self-promoting-pandering-to-the-masses rambling bullshit, nothing is off the table.  Here are some other possible campaign slogans that wouldn’t surprise me:

“Me Me Me”
“I’m white and damn proud of it!”
“Let me show you my money”
“I’m hired!”
“I’m an asshole and you love me for it!”

[Full disclosure: I’m feeling absolutely sick to my stomach writing a post about Donald Trump and his presidential run. I’m throwing up. not joking]

I’m absolutely baffled as to why ANYONE takes this buffoon seriously.  Here are just some highlights of his idiocy from both his current and previous runs for president:

a. He promises to use swear words when negotiating with foreign countries.
b. He’ll serve McDonald’s at state dinners for those countries he feels are being unfair to the US.
c. Trump credits China for coming up with the concept of global warming to fight US manufacturing.
d. He accuses Mexico for deliberately sending over rapists and killers to the US.
e. He championed birtherism against Obama (and still does).
f. He freely calls all our nation’s leaders (and everyone else) “stupid.”
g. He claims that his activity of renting and selling properties counts for more than enough foreign policy experience.
h. Trump affirms that if his policies on immigration were implemented, he would have stopped 9/11.
i. He wants to prevent all muslims from entering the US.
j. Trump has called numerous women “fat pigs,” “dogs,” “bimbos,” “slobs,” and “disgusting animals.”

Points d, e, and i are just covert ways of being racist.  A while back, Bob Schieffer of CBS’ Face the Nation said that Trump’s suspicion over Obama getting into Columbia University is “just code for saying he got into law school because he’s black.  This is an ugly strain of racism that’s running through this whole thing.”  Right on Bob!!  Call it like it is.

But why does this racist goof get any traction!  Is our nation that racist?  I guess so.  Is our nation that stupid to pay attention to this crap?  Yup.  Is our nation that fascinated by pontificating, immature, shit-faced egomaniacs?  Of course it is!  Remember Charlie Sheen!?  There was a media blitz around his own on-air self-destruction a few years back.  BUT everyone saw Sheen as precisely what he is – an egomaniac with extreme delusions about himself.  So why does Trump get traction where Sheen just slides out of the spotlight??

Let me repeat for the sake of emphasis.  Donald Trump and Charlie Sheen are practically the same person – meat heads, with lots of money, big mouths, and ideas fit for a donkey’s ass.  But Sheen was ridiculed and rightly so.  Why isn’t Trump?  Is it because of his racism adored by so many Americans?  Is it that Trump packages himself together just a little bit better than Sheen?  Is it because Trump links himself with a presidential run and the other Republican hopefuls are just that pathetic?  Granted, many people do not take Trump seriously and they do lump him into the same category as Charlie Sheen.  But there are many others who really do esteem Trump and think that he would be a great president! <holy shit, just kill me>  How is it even possible that this is a serious possibility???

Donald Trump embodies almost everything wrong with this country.  He’s an arrogant, cut throat capitalist, sexist, egotistic, ignorant, racist, man-whore, double-shit who makes his living off of financially screwing other people.  The more this guy gets into the spotlight as someone we should care about listening to, the more we should be punching ourselves in the faces.  Someone should punch me now for even writing a post about him.

“I’ve Got a Big Dick!”  It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he ran on that.  Hell, I bet he’d even make Charlie Sheen his VP.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

This isn't high school anymore (by anon)

To be quite frank, the most promising part of coming to college was the fact that I would be escaping my hometown, where over half of the student body has absolutely no regard for the education system. My friends and I would complain everyday about the disrespect that we were surrounded by and literally counted down the days until our graduation ceremony. When I was accepted to the University of Wisconsin- Whitewater, I thought to myself, “This is a chance to be surrounded by people with different ideas, but share one common goal, take education seriously and be rewarded in the future because of it.” Although the classmates and friends that I choose to surround myself with absolutely share the same goal as I do, there are a select number of individuals who act with utter disrespect towards their professors and this college in general.
          One thing that I absolutely cannot stand is academic dishonestly. In my Statistics class, we had an exam that we took over the course of two days. The exam happened to be found online, so many students who most likely would have never gotten high scores, ended up cheating and spreading the news around that the exam was found online. My teacher realized what had happened right away, thus, everyone was required to take a new exam. This made me extremely angry, because although it is fair that everyone should take the same exam, why should the students who were academically honest have to be punished as well?
          Another student I know in the class talks over the professor during the lectures, and make snarky comments directed towards the professor. Our professor has an accent, which can be difficult to understand at times, however if you pay attention and remain focused, it is not hard to understand what his main points are at all. At the end of the first two class periods this student claimed that our professor does not know how to teach properly. NO! He knows how to teach and it’s not hard to understand him either. The reason you have no idea what is going on is because you are making fun of his accent all class, and are disrespecting his profession and life’s work in mathematics.This is not high school, and I don’t know why such people think that since they are “adults”, they can be so arrogant and condescending towards those who are only trying to help them become functional adults.

          Another type of student that irks me is the type that does not bother to show up to their classes, and attends school mainly to party. I have met multiple students who do not seem to care about the money that they are wasting by not attending class. It’s not my money that is being wasted, it is theirs, but it bothers me to see how they simply do not care. The significance of going to college is to do well and learn in order to get a decent paying job and to live comfortably. What they do not realize is that they can fully dedicate themselves to learning as well as have fun. That’s why weekends were invented, guys! The fact that makes me more irritated is that some of these students will either drop out or be academically suspended because of their lack of attendance affecting their grade point averages. This means that scholarships, grants, and loans are being wasted on these students because they did not care enough about their education. In college, you cannot have your mother call in sick for you if you do not want to go to class.  Some of us will never grow up or move on from our teenage selves, but it is time to assume responsibility.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

If I had a crayon (by anon)

If I had a crayon, I’d draw a box.

That box is my life; it is me.  It is square, predictable, proportional, with boundaries, a square.  The inside and the outside seem well-defined, but in all honesty, as I am inside, the outside isn’t all that clear.  It should be clear because it is my job to think outside of it.  But it is not.

There are times I believe that I am sitting on top of the box or at least pacing back and forth upon it trying to determine what this box really is, where this box truly resides, why it is here in the first place, and what would it mean if the box disappeared, but those are all fantasies.  I am the box and nothing more.  I am inside, an infinite inside pegged within an infinitely finite casing, but I know it is a casing, a crushing casing. There is no understanding it, nor the entirety of the square, as there appears to be neither beginning nor end to its existence, though I know they both exist.

I want to scream at the box because it is so predictable.  I don’t want to die predictably, I don’t want to live predictably, but I fear that that is my lot.  I don’t want to be predictable, but that is predictable given my personality, and the more unpredictable I aim to become, the more predictable I get.  I am in my little box.  I don’t like my little box.

I want to eat the crayon and destroy my box, but then I would be no more.

I love my little box.

Friday, December 4, 2015

"The Day He Died" (a short story by anonymous)

I wish someone would believe me.  No one does.  How could they?  Everything that happened before didn’t happen after all.  Well, it did, but then it didn’t.  So how can anyone remember something that didn’t happen when it actually did?  It’s all terribly confusing so I’ll just tell you what I know.

Ten days ago the world was involved in its most horrible world war yet.  World War XX had already spelled the worst for Brazil, Peru, and Argentina, and the Syrians were gunning for the whole continent.  Over ten million were dead from the concentration camps alone and the Venezuelans were next to be interred.  I was sitting in my apartment in Puerto Ayacucho with my AK-47, my lucky fishing knife, and the last of my rum.  I had already heard gunshots, and I was pretty sure mine were going to be heard too.

So I waited.  Then I fell asleep in probably under five minutes.  I was never good at waiting.

I woke up to find myself sitting in an enormous, beautiful, larger-than-life garden.  I had never seen anything so glorious.  Even the leaves of the ferns and the petals of the flowers seemed to glimmer and have a radiance that would wipe away darkness from anywhere.  I didn’t move.  I didn’t want it to end.  I started to think I was dead.

Then I saw him.  I knew who it was immediately.  Anyone would know.  The flowers, ferns, trees, and grasses all bent toward him hoping to get closer.  I felt the draw too, but as I was about to get up and follow him, he was sitting right next to me.

I sat there not knowing what to say for what felt like years, then he began to speak.  I mean, what do you say to someone like him, but he spoke the most eloquent prose about the garden, its intricate features, and the way they all weave together to form a symbiotic whole.  He said, “This is my creation.  It is good.”

Remembering Venezuela, my shyness fell away.  “Why not bad?”  Life is certainly not like this everywhere, I thought.

He smiled a great smile and said, “Not bad.  Creation as a whole is better or else I would not create.  There would be no point to my existence otherwise.”

Wrapped in my own head trying to understand everything meant by that, I offhandedly asked, “Why is something necessarily better than nothing?”

He pursed his smile, thought about the question, and a speck of doubt crossed his brow.  It was the most horrifying thing I’ve ever witnessed.  He said slowly, “I do not know.  What would be the point of my…”  And with that his body turned ashen and exploded as rotting flesh.  Within an instant, the garden, once so beautiful and radiant, was a wasteland of fuming disease, excrement, and ravaging maggots.  For miles around, only death and the harbingers of death could be seen and smelled.  He just died.

I woke up back in my apartment, in my chair.  Instinctively I reached for my gun, but found nothing.  After the mental reorientation needed after vivid dreams, I surmised that the Syrians had not killed me and…something was different.  The morning light felt a little cheerier than normal.  No gunfire could be heard.  Only people.  Lots of people.  I peeked out my window to see the streets bustling with the old street market back in full force with hundreds of happy shoppers.

Didn’t they know there’s a war going on and that we’re next?  Maybe they were tired of living scared and decided to give life one last hurrah.  I went outside and bought an apple.  It never tasted so sweet.  I probe the vendor about what would happen if the Syrians came right now.  Would she just give up?  She said, “Syrians?  All the way over here?  I guess I hope they have lots of money to spend!”  Giving my best puzzled while frowning look I ask, “Aren’t you afraid of getting killed?  What about the war?” 

Dumbfounded she says, “Silly boy, people don’t kill people.  That wouldn’t be a very good thing to do now, would it?  What do you mean by ‘war’?”

Confused, I leave the vendor and walk down the street.  I pick up a newspaper, peruse it quickly, but read no mention of any war.  I go to the gun shop thinking I’ll get some straight answers, but there’s a bakery now standing in its place.  My head’s spinning.  I ask the bakery clerk what happened to the gun store and he asks, “What’s a gun?  Is it a new food?  This bakery has been here for over a decade, son.”

I walk outside and breath the air.  Sweet.  Life.  I buy a flower from a vendor.  It glimmers.

There was never a war.  No one believes me that there was.  People have a hard enough time believing that I made up such an awful word as ‘war’.  After checking the library archives, I find that there has never been any war on Earth.  Ever.

I lean back in my chair, fail to make sense of it all, but think to myself: this is good.

Monday, November 30, 2015

I am not your cash register! (by anon)

My little script is so ingrained in my brain that when my grandparents call me for a quick chat, I sometimes instinctively ask them if they’ve found everything okay. Mine is one of the most repetitive jobs in the world, so I’m told. Most days are monotonous and identical in every way. 

And others completely suck.

I get that every job has its ups and downs. Anything worth being paid for has its challenges. But what baffles me is that 90% of my heartache in the workplace is because some customers seem not to give a care in the world about the fact that I want to be there even less than they do.

This one’s for the cashiers.

“Hello. How are you today?”

Oddly enough, in some cultures people actually answer politely when a stranger asks them a polite question. If only I had a dollar for every time I’ve said my little spiel and gotten an annoyed groan or a snippy little “FINE” thrown in my face. What’s even more aggravating is that I’ve never gotten a rude response from a fellow millennial- only from people middle-aged and older. It kind of makes me wonder- do they actually look down upon me because I’m younger? Do they realize that the only reason why I’m a simple cashier is so I can save up to be an adult just like them?

I’m a college student. Just because I don’t have a job as well-paying as yours doesn’t make me any less deserving of respect, and I’m really not too stupid to understand the world. I get that your day may have sucked and the absolute last place you want to be right now is here, shopping for over-priced produce.

But c’mon. It’s not like I’m celebrating the joys of scanning barcodes all day.

It’s cool with me if you don’t want to raise the minimum wage or take the store survey or pretend that your day was wonderful or whatever. But when I’m looking at you with a smile on my face and your five hundred coupons in my hand and I ask you, “Hi! How are you?” It’s okay to smile back. I promise no one will judge you for talking to the stupid little cashier.

…And even if they do, it really and truly will make my day. One time an awesome customer picked up the two conveyor belt dividers, handed me one of them, and started the most epic sword fight in the world.

One year on Labor Day, a customer thanked me for coming to work so that he could buy a snack for his cancer-stricken wife.

One time a three-year-old handed me a piece of corn, pretending it was a magic bean and sparking the most interesting conversation of my entire day.

These people are my role models, the ones who treat me like equals instead of acting so high-and-mighty. They’re the reason why I stay here. Plus… you know… I’m broke. The bottom line is to remember who it is on the other side of the conveyor belt. Scorning a worker is no less harmful than racism or internet bullying. Can’t we all just be human beings together?

So thank you. And have a nice day. 

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Brainwashed (by anon)



We as citizens of the United States are constantly brainwashed about many different things. But there is one in particular.  One of the big topics brought up by our political representatives and displayed in the media over and over again is “Gun control”.

We are told that without gun laws, we are not safe from people who own firearms. For example politics continue to bring up that shootings could erupt at any moment from people who legally conceal, which is completely ludicrous. In fact, the very people who are constantly ridiculed for being armed will be the only people saving your ass in time of need. Police officers may not always be there right when needed; for example in recent news a 13 year old boy was home alone, when two men tried to break into his house, he opened fire and killed one of the men who happened to be a 6 time felon. What if that young boy did not have access to a gun? Would he have still been alive today?

It is sad that shootings throughout the world and especially in our own country are wake up calls for us as humans; and an even more sickening realization is how our political figures use such events such as mass shootings and in recent news, the killings in France, to strengthen their political campaigns. No more than a month later, the tragedy will be forgotten by the press and we will move on to the next big story, leaving behind only the affected families and close friends to deal with the pain and suffering with the results of the tragedy. France is literally a gun free zone and somehow people with assault rifles shoot over one-hundred unarmed civilians; it’s crazy to think that in a gun free zone you are safe from attacks like this just because there is a law “protecting” you. It is safe to say that the status of the people in power in this great country is more important than the well-being of the people of this nation. 

The sad truth behind all of this is that we have been brainwashed for so long that it will only take a tragic event like we have experienced in the past to wake people up from this idea that we still live in a perfect world. If you think tragedies like we see in the news all the time could not happen to you, or people around you are, then you are sadly mistaken. If we look we can see the chaos going on all around the world today; we as a people need to stand together and be prepared for what is to come before it is too late. Whether the the media wants to admit it or not, there will continue to be violence in this country and if we are not armed i believe this country will be weakened in a time where it is crucial to be strong. Are you truthfully at peace with your life being put in our government’s hands?  If not you have to do what is best for you and your family and arm yourself and prepare for the worst. Don’t be brainwashed into not having a gun to protect yourself and the ones you love.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Shitting on Black Thursday? (two anons)



 Black Friday on Black Thursday?



The newest trend for Black Friday shopping seems to be stores opening earlier and earlier. Some stores even are beginning to open as early as Thursday night. That Thursday night, November 26th, is Thanksgiving though, as you all should know. This new coming tradition of Thursday’s Black Friday is becoming more and more ridiculous. Americans need to realize this outrageous tradition is getting out of hand and need to wait to deal shop until the actual date of Friday, November 27th.
            First off, the biggest issue of a store being open on Thanksgiving evening is that it prevents all employees from spending this holiday with family. How can the Thursday night workers be thankful for what they have when they are forced to be around greedy deal shoppers? I work in retail myself, and from experience I have found that Black Friday shopping changes the moods of some customers for the worst. Attitudes and arguments over certain items on Thanksgiving eve only takes away from the true purpose of the holiday: giving thanks for what you have.
Secondly, retail stores opening earlier on Thursday seem to think that means crowds and lines of people will become shorter. This is not the truth, all it does is make those extreme sale shoppers come earlier and earlier in those same long length lines. Similarly to workers being away from family on Thanksgiving, the people who go out shopping on Thanksgiving eve are being torn away from loved ones as well. It seems as though some super deal shoppers just cannot resist that urge to be that first customer to go out and get every item on their list.
To conclude, it seems that the tradition of Black Friday shopping is turning into a holiday itself – the worst part being that this “holiday” is beginning to overlap with the more important holiday: Thanksgiving. In the end, all people out in retail stores on this special evening, both workers and shoppers, are losing out on precious family time and bonding over the true meaning of Thanksgiving. I strongly suggest that when debating whether or not to go out deal shopping on this Thanksgiving eve, you instead decide to wait until the actual Black Friday to continue the tradition.

**************************************************
Black Friday Turned Black Thursday 

            Is it just me or do you feel like Black Friday should start on FRIDAY??? Everyday, I see commercials for Black Friday sales starting on Thanksgiving…… How is this appropriate? Is our western culture really so obsessed with saving a couples bucks that they would abandon their family on an important holiday? I get it maybe having your sales start at a time like 10 or 11p.m. on Thanksgiving because then most family gatherings are dispersed. But no, almost every store I’ve seen is starting at 4-6 p.m. If they are already starting that early, I wonder what they will be like a few years from now. With such early sale times, it also increases the number of employees they need for Thanksgiving night. It’s unfair to ruin the people’s holiday who aren’t even there for the sales. I just see this holiday turning into one about shopping and wanting more things rather than coming together with family and being thankful for what you have in that moment. Black Friday totally ruins the idea of THANKSgiving. It makes me upset because it seems as though our culture is pretending.
            Some opposers might say that Thanksgiving is just a day and we have the chance to be with family any day of the year and that this is one day of sales only happens once a year. I find that to be false because Thanksgiving is a holiday and therefore many get a day off from their busy schedules. It’s a day when everyone has off and is meant to be spent together. Another opposition might be that the reason they go Black Friday shopping is to buy Christmas presents for the family they just left so it's fine. Does anyone feel like that is wrong too? I mean are the savings really worth it. Christmas is another holiday where it is not about presents and things but being with your loved ones. Don’t get me wrong, I love Black Friday and going shopping. It’s definitely an experience but, I think the stores should stick to standards or almost have rules when it comes to Black Friday. Once they start to change sale times, shoppers think they are missing out. Therefore, it should be a change the stores have to do. They should respect the Thanksgiving holiday.