Thanksgiving Day followed by “Black
Friday.” And now so-called “Brown Thursday” encroaching on
Thanksgiving Day as well.
On Friday last week, with most media
attention given to the crowds racing to get the hot deals at the
stores, someone posted the following question on Facebook: “Have
you taken time to be thankful for what you already had yesterday?”
One Black Friday shopping enthusiast
admitted that she had no use for the item she had just purchased, but
she bought it “because, who could pass up such a great deal?!?”
And, are we really thankful, or has the
driving attraction to the day we commonly call “Turkey Day”
become gorging ourselves with an excess of fats and sugars?
According to an article in the New
York Times, the average American consumes 4,500
calories on Thanksgiving Day, more than double the maximum
recommended diet for the average person and this, while 1 in 8 people
in the world suffer from chronic undernourishment.1
“Brown Thursday” has been marketed
to our vocabulary the last two years. Not satisfied with the income
from Black Friday, one of the largest single shopping days in the
entire year, retailers are now opening on Thursday. As a result, not
only are people rushing away from family gatherings in order to be
the first in line for the sales, but employees are now required to
skip or re-arrange their Thanksgiving Day schedules in order to stock
the shelves and attend to the crowds of shoppers.
We have become, it seems to me, a
society defined by greed. The greed of businesses that create market
pressure to transform every cultural and religious celebration into a
buying spree, and the greed of all of us to have more and more stuff
– whether we need it, or use it, or not.
"Where globalization means, as it so often does, that the rich and powerful now have new means to further enrich and empower themselves at the cost of the poorer and weaker, we have a responsibility to protest in the name of universal freedom." Nelson Mandela
I am reminded of an experience that
spoke powerfully to me of society ordered to a different set of
values. It took place a few days before Christmas, near my wife's
hometown in Brazil. Taking an afternoon walk along a dusty, gravel
road just outside of town, we happened to meet an elderly woman who
remembered my wife from years earlier. She was delighted to see us
and invited us to walk the short path up to her home for a visit,
which we did. It was a very simple wood frame house. Just inside
the front door was a small table with a bench on each side of it,
bordered on the otherside by a rickety-looking old stove. There
appeared to be two other rooms, separated from the main room by
unpainted walls made of wood planks.
Dona Camila (we'll call her) asked us
if we would accept a cup of coffee – a normal part of Brazilian
hospitality. Her husband, Sr. Eduardo, was also at the table and we all
sat visiting for a bit. As we sipped the sweet Brazilian demitasse,
Dona Camila asked if we would accept a piece of panetone,
a special kind of fruitbread specially reserved for the Christmas
season. The next thing that happened is what caught my attention and
is the reason this experience has stayed stayed so clear in my
memory.
Dona
Camila had her husband get up on a chair and reach to the very top of
a tall cupboard where the panetone was
stored. As he carefully brought it down and as she opened it and cut
slices for each of us, it dawned on me that this was probably their
panetone reserved for
Christmas day, the only one they could afford. And here they were
sharing it with us, these out of town guests who just happened to be
walking by that day; meaning that Christmas dinner, possibly with
other family there too, would be shy on this special treat.
But their gift was
offered out of such apparent unconditional generosity and joy. Even
remembering now, it brings tears to my eyes! Such graciousness. No
hoarding or greed. Evidently no hesitancy about “what will we have
for ourselves for Christmas?” Just open, selfless giving. Oh –
and before we ate – they invited us to pause and give thanks!
One of the
questions I have sought to reflect on and pursue in this blog is the
challenge of envisioning and building a society focused on human
values of the common good and community. It seems to me that our
current society that places the highest value on material possession
and gain is not only headed in the wrong direction, but is reaching
the point where it is beginning to collapse in on itself. Around the
world, the gap between the wealthy and the rest of us is growing at
an alarming rate. On the other hand we are seeing an increasing
number of people movements – not only in other places but here in
the United States as well – that are challenging this escalating
discrepancy and inequality. The choice is ours. Do we choose to
allow every corner of our lives to become nothing more than an
response to marketing pressures and the pursuit of more and more, or
is there a greater value in a society and culture of generosity, of
attention to one another's needs, and of building real community? My
desire is to think about and to act and live in ways that take us in
this latter direction. This drive arises for me out of some of the
deepest, most meaningful experiences in my life . . . like that day
with Dona Camila and Sr. Eduardo. And I give thanks!
1 According
to the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger%20facts%202002.htm
2013-12-01