The day after thanksgiving is not an ordinary Friday. It’s a Friday that causes citizens of the western world to go berserk; ordinary parents turn into primitive beasts on drugs. People run towards the entries of stores as if they were wildebeests running over dry landscapes towards fields of gold and water.
This “drug” that they’re affected by is so common that we’ve come to terms with it being on almost every single display in the city jungle. This drug is often a red poster with big, bold letters showing the word “SALE” accompanied by decorative, hypnotizing numbers. Black Friday can be described as a brutal hysteria that takes the shape of a destructive wave each year, caused by media, companies and us, people. It shows how much we’re willing to give up and risk for the sake of misleading sales and 10% discounts. It’s bizarre how numbers and ads can make us people lose our senses. The main reason for this wave growing so uncontrollably large is because of companies hunger for profit as well as that people’s moral boundaries derail each year. These are not actions that lead to a sustainable society and planet!
Each year we see combats with no mercy, people ripping, beating eachother up and others falling like flies to the ground, begging for survival and simply hoping that they don’t get trampled to death by the incoming swarm of apathetic and starving consumers.
I really think that this all boils down to us being terrified, scared to the core of our bones of expiration and not being remembered for our wealth and pleasing lives. Imagine if we were to turn the violent and chaotic environment of Black Friday into an actual battle of life and death, then we would most likely end up in Syria.
Close your eyes, visualize, and open them again. You’re in the middle of a crowd, people are running and screaming, shards of glass are falling like violent snowflakes, it’s so crowded that you feel as if you’re one little ant in a never-ending anthill. You haven’t eaten for weeks and you’re about to lose your mind due to thirst. Suddenly, a fraction of food appears, the crowd goes crazy and everyone knows that their survival is dependent on this limited opportunity of food and water. In the background there are civilian defenders risking their lives, fighting and dying, because they are so determined to save children and others trapped in the brutality of napalms and starvation.
Both of these scenarios happen right now, in this current minute; the only difference is that they’re occurring on different sides of our planet, and that one of them is a result of our reckless habits. So the next time that you consider getting in that fight mode, try to reflect on why you’re doing it, and if it’s actually necessary?