Happy Thanksgiving

I heard a report on TV yesterday stating that 1 in 5 Americans will be working on Thanksgiving Day. This year I may be joining the ranks as I'm on call and that can mean anywhere from nothing to nightmare. For myself, and any other party to my work, I hope I'll have nothing to do but carry my beeper.

As for the hundreds of employees around the country who have "volunteered" to work retail on Thanksgiving Day, whether starting at 8PM or midnight, my sympathy. I seriously doubt there are more than handful of front-line retail workers in the nation that would "volunteer" to staff a cash register on Thanksgiving Day. I can only hope there is a special place in hell for the corporate decision makers who think enticing the public out of their homes and into their retail outlets to purchase crap on Thanksgiving is clever and smart.

Thanksgiving is a luxury: To live in a country where so many enjoy safe and comfortable housing, free of the sound of air-raid sirens and the concussion of rockets and bombs; to live in a country where so many of us will be left at the end of the day holding our bellies-- not owing to hunger but rather because of over-eating on a day of feasts; in a country where there are so many who care enough to reach out to others in need, insuring that churches, community centers, and other charitable venues can offer a free and generous meal to those without-- these are the gifts we enjoy and so often take for granted.

It is only right and fitting that this nation that enjoys such immeasurable wealth, this island of bounty in an ocean of need, that we should dedicate a day to acknowledge and celebrate our good fortune. To use this day as an opportunity to wring a few more dollars from a nation of compulsive shoppers should only be seen for what it is: offensive and deeply disrespectful. Pernicious avarice. Conspicuous consumption.

If you have thoughts of journeying out on Thanksgiving evening to take advantage of the retail carnival I hope you will reconsider and stay home. Enjoy the day, the evening, and the whole night long. Relax and recover from over indulgence in the peace and quiet of your own home. Things that cannot be done in much of the rest of the world this Thursday, November 22, 2012.