In our materialist culture with its deep sense of personal entitlement, gratitude is a simple and subversive force. That’s why Thanksgiving is so good for us. Through gratitude and generosity we can step outside of our own little world where we are the center of attention. In doing so, we step out of the firing line of all of the messaging, advertising, and fear-inducing hype that is aimed at us each day. As we allow the clamor and din to diminish, we start to hear and appreciate all sorts of quieter, gentler things that we often miss - our names, our purpose, our friends and family, and the simple joys of living.This Thanksgiving holiday starts out so beautifully when, as a nation, we gather with our friends and family to give thanks and step back from the day to day. The danger is that we can then fall back into the ugliness of gratuitous consumerism on Black Friday and Cyber Monday - the official kick-offs to a season of material excess.
Trade As One is seeing people all over the country choose to subvert consumerism by deciding to spend less, to spend thoughtfully, and to ensure that the gifts they give are those that tell stories of the sort of world that our beliefs and hopes point us to. They are choosing to buy, give, and use items that are making a positive contribution to sustainable livelihoods for those trapped in poverty. Click here to join them.
So, from all the team at Trade as One, we wish you a very happy Thanksgiving. Thanks for partnering with us to make the world a fairer place.
Nathan George
Founder, Trade as One
Comments
Correction:
The following was NOT posted by Tony Biaggne.
It was posted by Barbara Sydnor
I feel the same way about the excessive consumerism of the season. A British ex-pat, married to an American, Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday, yet it has become overshadowed by the excesses of Christmas. Also, for the past six years I have become increasingly disheartened by what Christmas has become; it seems to me that, too often, Christ no longer features in Christmas. This led me to compose the following poem entitled, Consumas:
Say, is Christmas just an idea, a relic from the past;
the Norman Rockwell Christmas, of families and heart,
where love was given – not store-bought – and the focus was on Christ?
Today we need a re-think, the name does not apply;
it’s all about Black Friday and the bottom line, and we:
are pressured,
and prodded,
and programmed to buy.
Christmas today is a season:
of stresses,
and stressors,
and strife.
We heave a collective sigh of relief when it has passed.
And yet there’s not a long respite.
The stores will stock their Christmas stuff
from August and September - giving the
customers “what they want” - some say.
Who starts a birthday celebration four months ahead of time?
It’s NOT about Christ!
In thrall to profit, the wares are plied, and we –
like lemmings, leap into a vortex of consumption –
giddy with “the prize”.
There’s:
piped music to seduce the wallets, fake
fragrances to entice our cards.
Christmas has been hijacked and subsumed by
mass Consumption. Let’s call it CONSUMAS, for –
It hasn’t got a thing to do with Christ!