Don’t let consumerism eclipse the need to share with others this Christmas

SIR,

Polarized American society will be temporarily united this coming holiday weekend by its slavish devotion to consumerism. As USA citizens tuck into Thanksgiving Day dinner on Thursday, the conversation around the table will centre on where the best bargains are to be found.

Thanksgiving Day used to be sacrosanct in the USA as a major national family holiday giving thanks for the year’s harvest. Regrettably, the deeper meaning of Thanksgiving Day has been lost in an undignified rush to a frantic shopping spree, where Americans engage in an unbecoming scramble for consumer goods. It’s also the day before Black Friday, the shopping frenzy that marks the start of the USA’s Christmas holiday season.

Many Americans take both Thanksgiving Day and Friday off work, making it a four-day weekend, thereby increasing the number of potential shoppers. Marketing companies have now created ‘Cyber Monday’ to add another shopping day onto the Thanksgiving weekend and to persuade people to shop online.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the busiest shopping days in the USA. In 2017, $75 billion was spent during the four-day Black Friday weekend in cash, credit, loans and hire purchase agreements by about 145 million USA consumers. Many Americans were left wallowing in debt in January having lost the run of themselves during the Black Friday weekend shopping frenzy.

The narcissistic materialism of the USA’s Black Friday weekend, offering little other than huge debts, maxed-out credit cards and unneeded goods, conflicts with the values of inclusion, compassion and care, so eloquently espoused by Michael D Higgins in his Presidential inauguration speech.

Let us take ownership of those values by sharing some of our time and our resources with the lonely, the needy and the homeless this Christmas season.

Sincerely,

Billy Ryle

Spa,

Tralee