“Buying something you do not need is a waste of money, even if it is a bargain.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Black Friday shopping has never appealed to me. It seems so counter-intuitive to one day preach about everything you are thankful for. Then not even 24 hours later trample a child to get a new TV.
You see people waiting in the freezing cold to secure their spot. If you try to cut in line, they will come for you. If you play by their rules, you are welcome. What is this culture that we have bred that can flip like a switch? Have we always been this way?
The original Black Friday occurred from a financial crisis. The gold market crashed in 1869. This meant that two snazzy Wall Street financiers Jay Gould and Jim Fisk were set on coming up with a plan to get it back up. They worked together to buy as much as they could, hoping and praying that it would drive up the price and sell for fantastic profits. On September 24. 1869 the entire plan unraveled. The stock market entered a free fall, everyone went bankrupt.
This further proves that humans have always been selfish.
In someway somehow it is ingrained in us to want the best, for us. You can look all the way back to Adam and Eve and see this.
The massive hurdle we have to jump over once we have come to this realization is how do we stop doing this. Are the benefits of being utterly selfish tremendous to yourself? Yes. Although in the world we live in today the cons could be detrimental to the earth or the world as we know it.
So, how does one become selfless? If you think about it, asking that is basically like asking how does one not become a human?
Note: This is not to bash anyone that does shop on Black Friday. It is simply just a stream on my thoughts with a bit of research.