Black Friday.

Every year in the United States, the day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday. And every year during the day after Thanksgiving, I feel ashamed to be an American.

Never have I participated in Black Friday. When I was younger, I was usually dirtbiking with the family anyways. As I became older, I was either dirtbiking, or if I wasn’t, I thought how incredibly stupid it was for people to be awake at 3am just to shop.

Well, I’m lying a little bit. There was one time when I was 19 years old and I participated- actually HAD to participate- in Black Friday. It was when I worked at Puma. I had the closing shift. It was hell. I had never seen people being so barbaric, being like wild, crazy animals, over material goods. The store was an absolute mess, so I just walked around the store and vowed to myself I was never leaving my house on Black Friday ever again. I felt sad for these people going crazy over shoes and clothes. They were pathetic.

It is crazy how people can camp out in front of these huge corporations to buy, buy, buy—but people can’t camp out in parks, in front of buildings, etc. during peaceful protests to stand for what they believe in. It really is sad and backwards. People have died during Black Friday by stampedes. The only harm done during peaceful protests is by the cops.

America really does have a lot of things wrong with it. They just want you to consume and consume without even thinking about it, even when its going through an economic crisis (amongst other things). It’s been instilled into Americans to consume ever since they’re babies.

Black Friday is the epitome of what’s wrong with America.

I feel sorry for the people who choose to participate in Black Friday every year, who “can’t wait!” for it, who rush through Thanksgiving just to go sit out in front of Walmart for 8 hours, who are so blinded by consumption that they can’t see what’s really going on in the world, or even in their own country.

As for me, I choose to participate in Buy Nothing Day the day after Thanksgiving. I also choose to live in countries that don’t make me feel so sad, that make me feel like there really are places in the world that have their stuff together (or at least most of their stuff together). Ecuador is a great example, and that’s why I like it here.

Am I anti-American? If you know me, you should know the answer. It’s a love and hate relationship, but when it comes down to it and I educate myself and find out what’s REALLY going on in America, it becomes more of a hate relationship. Sometimes I wish my family and close friends would wake up, but I’m not the one to force my beliefs on anyone. I say what I think, what I feel, what I know, and they can take it from there.  If you think “America is the greatest, the best, the most awesome country in the world” then you obviously haven’t been out of the country enough….

I hate to say this, but I want to- I think something really bad, really gnarly, needs to happen in America for people to wake up. And the way things are going in America right now, it might just happen.