Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Liberia. It began as a day of giving thanks and sacrifice for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year.

Thanksgiving in the United States is celebrated on the final Thursday in November. Most companies close their doors to allow their employees to spend time with friends and family. However, consumer businesses use this time to target sales surges on the day after Thanksgiving, formally known as "Black Friday."

On Black Friday, many stores would offer highly promoted sales at discounted prices and often would open very early, sometimes as early as midnight or even on Thanksgiving. Black Friday has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States since 2005. People actually put money aside during the year in order to shop on this special day because of the "discounts" and "promotions" provided by almost every store. And it does not stop just on physical stores; this madness is extended to the internet with the addition of "Cyber Monday."

Cyber Monday, which started in 2005 by the National Retail Federation's division Shop.org,  refers to the Monday immediately following Black Friday based on a trend that retailers began to recognize in 2003 and 2004. Retailers noticed that many consumers, who were too busy to shop over the Thanksgiving weekend or did not find what they were looking for, shopped for bargains online that Monday from home or work. In 2014, Cyber Monday was the busiest day of the year with sales exceeding $2 billion in desktop online spending, up 17% from the previous year.

With the popularity of Cyber Monday growing (mostly because of the evolution in mobile technology, making the internet accessible almost any time and anywhere), there is now a spinoff or new evolution taking place: Cyber Week, which Cyber Monday is part of, as the first day of Cyber Week.

OK, so, we started with a Holiday that celebrated giving thanks but ended up in the black hole of a multitude of days of buying. The pilgrims would no longer recognize this special day in our current world, as this day now marks a popular start of corporations taking advantage of the crowd in order to liquidate their end of year products and boost their last quarter numbers while making profits easily at the mercy of the mighty dollar, thought to be exchanged at a better deal.

So, what is really "ThanksGiving" nowadays? Well, it's a day where we get to be off work, cook an extra size meal and share with close family (and sometimes friends as well), while we prep for how we're going to get those discounted items that we've always wanted on Black Friday, Cyber Week, and Cyber Monday. oh, while we are at it, we can also start shopping for Christmas and New Year. Yeah to us.

CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE

• Truly Celebrate Thanksgiving, a day of giving thanks and sacrifice for the blessing of the "harvest" and of the preceding year. On top of sharing a great meal with friends and family, also sacrifice some time to bless others by sharing your time and resource for people less fortunate than you. Provide some assistance to people in need. Check with your local community outreach and churches for how you can support.
• Invest for the future. Take 10% of the money you planned to spend on Black Friday and Cyber Week, and invest it on something that can generate you more income ( a business equipment? some stocks?). If you already have dedicated money saved for investment, then use the 10% to increase your Emergency fund.
• Simplify. Simplify. Simplify. Thanksgiving is just about being recognizant of the goodness around you; things that you are thankful for. It shouldn't be hard to say "Thank you" and meditate on your "Blessings." It shouldn't be a stressfull moment or an expensive one or a wasted time on cooking and preparing for companies. Just share your time and meal with people that means a lot to you and give your time and food to those who are in need.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL OUR READERS!

We are thankful that you decided to take time to read this article. As part of our token of appreciation, we give you a FREE BOOK from our sister company AFRIK COMICS, their first release on a topic that is very dear to our heart and mission: Preserving African Youth.

 

SAFARI THE AFRICAN CHILD: Children of The Mines Kindle Edition

by BLACK ADANIS (Author), Camille Nkanza (Illustrator)  

Format: Kindle Edition

In order to save his injured and dying father, Safari teams up with his reckless friend Kaye in search of a quick way to make money. Desperate times require desperate measures (but hey, who are we to judge!), yet, at what cost?
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SAFARI THE AFRICAN CHILD graphic novel stories are fictional, yet, they bring to light factual topics related to African youth past and current conditions. Beautifully written, penciled, and inked by African artists, with the goal of bringing to light what many are trying to hide for their own benefit.

AFRIK COMICS is dedicated to creating African-related comics, with the goal of sharing African arts and cultures to the world while providing an income stream for many talented African artists working with the studio.
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This article was first published on November 25, 2021.