Being Grateful Today…And EVERYDAY Throughout The Years
Posted by Michelle Moquin on November 28th, 2013
Good morning!
Over the years here, there has been much talk about the origin of Thanksgiving. And surrounding that has been discussions about our feelings over this particular “holiday,” while revealing the truth about what really happened between the Pilgrims and the American Indians.
As much as I am well aware of how Thanksgiving came about, the story not warm and fuzzy like the one we were told growing up, by celebrating, it does not mean that I lessen the truth or try to bury the horrific acts of violence that the native American Indians had to endure.
I celebrate “togetherness” by being able to share some time with friends and family, and give thanks for all that I have. And remember that some families never had that opportunity. I also remember that no matter how tough or challenging life can be sometimes, there is always someone who has struggles that are far more challenging, and as kind human beings it is up to us to reach out and be there in support to those who need it most.
I feel grateful that I can take this time today to be with my family and friends, when I know that there are those who would love to be with theirs, and who can’t.
And since I am a girl who blogs bringing to light the cruelty and unfairness of others, so that they have a voice, the least that I can do on Thanksgiving Day while I am with my family, is address those that are so greedy for the buck, that they would make their employees work on a day that they should be with their families celebrating “togetherness” and all that they have to be grateful for.
From Think Progress:
Walmart Is The Latest Company To Ruin Workers’ Thanksgivings
Readers: On the one hand, I HOPE that no one visits Walmart to show them how inconsiderate they are toward their employees by making them work today. And on the other hand, I know what it is like to be working in a place where there is no one visiting and all you want to do is leave. So a part of me is wanting the store to flood with people telling the workers that they are so grateful for the service and holiday spirit, so that the workers can have as much of a positive and joyful experience as they can while they are working. But…that they don’t buy anything in support of Walmart being open today!! We don’t want Walmart to benefit and do it again next year, right?
Whatever you do on this day and however you view this day, I HOPE that it brings you peace & joy & Love, and reminds you of how much we all have to be grateful for, today and…EVERYDAY throughout the years. And that you have such an abundance of all of this, that you spread it where ever you go, and to whomever you meet.
Before I sign off, I want to say once again, that I am so grateful for all of you being here through the years with me on this journey. There are days where I don’t think I can post another article that angers me to tears. And then I experience the gratitude that I feel from the conversations and comments…and I am moved to tears in ways that I didn’t expect.
And when I stop, I realize that I am so grateful for your presence…you…my extended family. Thank you for taking your time to be here with me.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! PEACE & LOVE.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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November 28th, 2013 at 11:28 am
Thank you and have a happy Thanksgiving, Mischa!
Ill do Black Friday shopping, that’s my Christmas shopping start date except for my Jewish pals who started Hannukah last night (Happy Hannukah, Howie and all our Jewish friends here). This year I saw that Christmas /holiday decorations went up at midnight Oct 31st, I protest THAT!!
Luv. Zen Lill
November 28th, 2013 at 12:44 pm
oops. I posted on the wrong day. HAPPY THANKSGIVING MICHELLE! hehe
Have a safe holiday everybody.
/SB
November 28th, 2013 at 6:18 pm
Love your opening remarks were marvelous. Happy Thanksgiving.
November 28th, 2013 at 6:20 pm
Happy Thanksgiving Social Butterfly.
November 28th, 2013 at 6:24 pm
I agree with you, Zen Lill the business community is getting too greedy. They are starting earlier and earlier every season.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
November 28th, 2013 at 6:30 pm
Great opening Michelle. Let’t hope more of us take it to heart.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!
November 29th, 2013 at 8:25 am
Finding a new friend
While trying to pretend
Never to realize the intent
taking every new turn.
Following their eyes
To the inside of mine
Where conscience could be left behind
with only a word.
On the edge of possibility
Truly wanting them to see
Fulfillment there can be
inside our own soul.
Never leaving the sides
Of the people we live by
We shouldn’t need to satisfy
what is already whole.
November 29th, 2013 at 8:31 am
“[Walmart] said it will pay workers higher holiday wages, give them one 25 percent discount on a transaction, and give them a free meal.”
Define ‘holiday’ wages.
25% discount?
So, the more I spend, the more I save?
Walmart defines ‘free meal’ as: “One portion from no more than three demo stations.”
Actually,
http://www.latimes.com/busines…
“Wal-Mart said it would pay its Thanksgiving workers — an estimated million associates — holiday wages on top of their normal earnings. The giant discounter also said it would serve free meals during turkey day shifts and offer employees who work that day a 25% discount on a holiday season purchase.”
Imagine when they’ll get to apply that 25% discount.
November 29th, 2013 at 8:35 am
Sorry I hit my post button to soon. Let me continue.
===========
Imagine when they’ll get to apply that 25% discount. Before the store opens? After all the good toys are gone? And why be specific on ‘meals’ and ‘discounts’ but not on ‘holiday wages’?
“The Huffington Post has reported on several signs popping up in Kmart stores that tell employees to not even bother requesting time off. (Kmart replied those were “rogue” signs.)” How does a sign, go rogue?
I think they’re meant ‘maverick’. The direction of holiday advertising and shopping is clear. Ads, movies, music, all come a bit earlier every year. Valentine’s Day is over? Cue the rabbit. http://www.cracked.com/quick-f…
November 29th, 2013 at 8:38 am
Michelle you are so right. The greedy bastards started launching their Christmas campaigns before Halloween in my town.
November 29th, 2013 at 8:39 am
Black Friday and Cyber Monday Get Pushed Back Every Year
November 29th, 2013 at 8:42 am
I hate it Michelle. It almost kills the Xmas spirit when they start playing Xmas albums in October. I live in New York and they started playing Xmas music on the 5th of October.
That is an almost 30-day difference from previous years’ November 1 switchover. This isn’t so shocking when you consider that October is now the month that all Christmas albums come out…
November 29th, 2013 at 8:46 am
Michelle, The Terrible Christmas Movie Specials came earlier this year Instead of the Power Rangers monster special we were entitled to, we got something called Power Rangers Super Samurai: A Christmas Wish, out since the 8th of freaking October.
This isn’t an isolated incident — a bunch of movies (mostly of the straight-to-DVD variety) leapedfrog holiday competition by hitting stores around Columbus Day.
The greed is just sickening.
November 29th, 2013 at 8:48 am
Kmart already ran their first Christmas ad … in September.” This reminds me of the novel, “1984”. Except, instead of being in a perpetual war (we’ll still have that), we’ll be bombarded by holiday propaganda, 365/24/7.
Actually, http://www.latimes.com/busines… “Target said most stores will stay open from 8 p.m. on Thursday for 27 hours straight; last year, the deals began flowing at 9 p..m.
Toys R Us said shoppers can come in for 29 consecutive hours starting at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Old Navy’s “unprecedented” 29-hour run will start at 9 a.m. on
Thanksgiving, shut down at 4 p.m. and then pick up from 7 p.m. until midnight the next day. Kmart’s 41-hour marathon launches at 6 a.m. on Nov. 28.
November 29th, 2013 at 8:50 am
Michelle, maybe this is because this is supposed to be the shortest holiday season since 2002. It is estimated that stores will only make shopping more nerve-racking for retailers.
With only 27 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas — six fewer than last year — stores can expect to lose $1.5 billion in potential sales, according to a report this month from Adobe Digital Index.
November 29th, 2013 at 8:51 am
Me I”m asking myself why shoppers cooperate by going on these spending sprees.
November 29th, 2013 at 8:52 am
Michelle, We need to take some responsibility for our decisions. If people would boycott these holiday destroyers then the companies would stop.
But will the public do so? To be fair the retail companies make much of the years profit in these holidays. The management owes their careers to these sales numbers.
Yes, the store manager probably gets this day off. Think that for years the mgr had to work these shifts too. So it is up to us to boycott.
November 29th, 2013 at 8:53 am
I have only been to a Walmart once, when my 80 year old mother dragged me to one in F’in Florida. To me going to Walmart is like going to hell.
November 29th, 2013 at 8:54 am
Roberta, Some shoppers justify the spending sprees as a “social and recreational activity,” a way to spend time with family out on the town, Kuntz said. Others, accustomed to the 24-hour availability of online merchandise, are increasingly demanding the same of traditional stores, he said.
” So many factors, so little time. One suggestion. Instead of using shopping as a “social and recreational activity” (puke-vomit) learn to have meaningful conversations! Shopping for non-essential items is nothing but an addiction.
November 29th, 2013 at 8:56 am
You people bitch too much. So people have to actually work at their jobs. What a tragedy.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:01 am
Black Friday was fun a few times. It is an experience camping out in line and hoping you can get to the deal before anyone else. But, now they have ruined it.
Camping out a few hours before the doors open would put it right at noon on Thanksgiving. Why would I want to shop on Thanksgiving during the day? And then giving out tickets for what place you are in line is an “improvement”, but it isn’t quite as good as the free for all that happened 15 years ago…
Petitions won’t fix this problem. Laws against the stores opening before 5 am on Black Friday would be fine in my book. It also gets people out of the house and shopping all morning.
Now, once you get the deals at Wal-Mart at 6pm, they would just go home and stay at home on Friday. Who do they have running these companies?
November 29th, 2013 at 9:02 am
Moral if you want to spend quality time with friends family and turkey. Stuff the turkey you work for with a union.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:03 am
Don#20,
Don’t be a douche. Americans work more than any other industrialized nation. http://abcnews.go.com/US/story… Americans take less vacation time than other nations http://www.usatoday.com/story/… http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-50… http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/1…
November 29th, 2013 at 9:04 am
Don, Says the guy who more than likely gets Thanskgiving as a paid company holiday.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:05 am
And is apparently a selfish son of a bitch.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:07 am
It started with Bush after 9/11. Remember when he said –
http://georgewbush-whitehouse…. 10/11/2001 “Now, the American people have got to go about their business. We cannot let the terrorists achieve the objective of frightening our nation to the point where we don’t — where we don’t conduct business, where people don’t shop. That’s their intention. Their intention was not only to kill and maim and destroy. Their intention was to frighten to the point where our nation would not act. Their intention was to so frighten our government that we wouldn’t seek justice; that somehow we would cower in the face of their threats and not respond, abroad or at home.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:09 am
http://georgewbush-whitehouse…. 11/8/2001 “People are going about their daily lives, working and shopping and playing, worshiping at churches and synagogues and mosques, going to movies and to baseball games.”
November 29th, 2013 at 9:10 am
Leave George W. Bush alone. http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/… “President Bush didn’t call on Americans to run up their credit card bills. He encouraged them go on living their lives as they were used to doing. And he expressed concern about a nation and an economy paralyzed by fear of terrorists. ”I ask your continued participation and confidence in the American economy,” Bush said in an address to the nation on Sept. 20, 2001.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:12 am
You fucking lying liberals: Terrorists attacked a symbol of American prosperity. They did not touch its source.
America is successful because of the hard work, and creativity, and enterprise of our people. These were the true strengths of our economy before September 11th, and they are our strengths today.
“ Bush did not, at any point, use the word “shop” in that momentous speech. Nor did he ask anyone to “go shopping” in a speech one week later. ”When [the terrorists] struck, they wanted to create an atmosphere of fear,” Bush said at a Sept. 27, 2001, speech at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.
“And one of the great goals of this nation’s war is to restore public confidence in the airline industry. ”It’s to tell the traveling public: Get on board. Do your business around the country. Fly and enjoy America’s great destination spots. Get down to Disney World in Florida.
Take your families and enjoy life, the way we want it to be enjoyed.” One of the only references Bush made to shopping at the time was on Nov. 8, 2001, when he said he had seen signs of a courageous people in the aftermath of the attacks. ”This great nation will never be intimidated.
People are going about their daily lives, working and shopping and playing, worshiping at churches and synagogues and mosques, going to movies and to baseball games,” Bush said.
The word “shopping” also turns up one more time. On Sept. 17, 2001, Bush addressed the fear some Muslims had of a backlash. ”I’ve been told that some fear to leave; some don’t want to go shopping for their families; some don’t want to go about their ordinary daily routines because, by wearing cover, they’re afraid they’ll be intimidated,” Bush said.”
November 29th, 2013 at 9:15 am
There are a few places that won’t allow retailers spoil Thanksgiving – Paramus, NJ, one of the biggest shopping places in the USA has laws banning almost all stores being open on Sundays, certain holidays including Thanksgiving and stores have to close not later than 11 PM and not open before 7 AM.
Maybe some towns, states should consider similar laws (but allowing limited Sunday hours) to protect workers dignity, actually cut the costs of stores being open and save local taxpayers money from the extra cops, fire, EMT’s and so on with extended and holiday openings.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:16 am
Walmart is a greedy company and most people know it, but it is by far not the only one doing this on Thanksgiving.
So far I have heard that Macy’s, Target, Best Buy are also doing it. Before it is over more stores will probably follow suit. This is a situation like “What comes first – the chicken or the egg?”
If people would not camp out with tents, blankets and other stuff before the store’s openings, maybe they would not d
November 29th, 2013 at 9:18 am
OOPS, let me continue.
If people would not camp out with tents, blankets and other stuff before the store’s openings, maybe they would not do so? People are brainwashed to shop and that is the real problem at a time when so many go without the basics.
Remember after 9/11 Bush told everyone to go out shopping. The media continuously tells us to go out and shop. Every five minutes a commercial on TV tells people to go out and shop.
So Black Friday comes around and people think that it is a religious ritual they have to participate in order to be an American. Christmas or any other holidays are no longer that important. The most important holiday in America is the holiday of “Shopping” which happens several times during the year.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:20 am
Michelle;
One IMPORTANT thing you can do — besides boycotting, and shopping locally, and revising your entire idea of having to give Christmas presents — is to shop the gift shops of public organizations like museums, zoos, and art centers.
They have absolutely lovely things, really unusual toys, and the money goes to support institutions which the community needs. They’re also generally empty during the insane times of the shopping season.
We used to do that, particularly for kids, and had a really peaceful day of the oldfashioned shopping sort, with lunch in the historical museum or whatever, with the comfortable feeling we were not contributing to the greed of the corporations.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:22 am
Michelle, I celebrated Thanksgiving by eating a vegan meal. I am not going to any of these stores on Thanksgiving.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:22 am
I used to work at a company that paid double time for working holidays, and I signed up for every one. I understand some people want to spend time with family, but I’d rather have the money.
If companies made it voluntary first, they’d probably have enough workers that those who didn’t want to work wouldn’t be forced to show up.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:24 am
My holiday shopping will be done at small businesses and online. (Yes I know Amazon isn’t a whole lot better but it’s not worse and that’s what we’ve been reduced to, picking the lesser of a bunch of evils.)
November 29th, 2013 at 9:24 am
The New American Constitution should start with this: “We The Sheeple of the Divided States, in order to form more confusion, establish injustice, insure domestic strife, provide for corrupt commercial success, promote the generals, and secure the profits for the ruling elite, do ordain and establish this Constipation for the Divided States of America by being forced to pick the lesser of many evils……”
November 29th, 2013 at 9:27 am
Earlier comments about Bush and shopping after 9/11, in trying to find a quote, some sites blame the media for distorting his words, and that Bush never told America to “go shopping”.
The emphasis was on getting the country back to normal, and normal meant lots of things.
Bush’s Speech Keywords on getting the country back to normal: Business, shopping, working, playing, worshipping, entertainment (movies and sports), enterprise, economy, travel.
Every single Keyword Bush used involved money.
It doesn’t matter how you spin the words, context, subtext, if you think he didn’t mean get back to spending, you are delusional. Or conservative. Basically, both.
Or you belong to Michelle’s LSOS Club.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:31 am
Mike#37, if the sheeple didn’t show up to shop, it would put a quick stop to this crap.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:32 am
Rebecca#39, It’s the nature of Sheeple to chomp at the rotten carrot dangled in their face. Reverend Billy and The Church of Stop Shopping should chime in on this!
November 29th, 2013 at 9:33 am
Ann#40, excuse me holiday bargains!!! Actually a lot of Black Friday “specials” are not that special. Me, I try to not even leave the house on Black Friday.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:34 am
My step daughter works at a specialty retailer and she has told me that their merchandise is already marked to “Black Friday” prices.
If anyone thinks they are getting a deal by showing up on TG they are sorely mistaken. I wonder how many other retailers have done the same thing? I’ll drive a couple miles out of my way to stay at least 5 miles from the mall on Black Friday.
November 29th, 2013 at 9:37 am
Michelle, I think the influence of the Howies, Zen Lills, Prism Princess, Anonz, and Social Butterflys of the world has made it better.
“I was struck by this: that in many cities, when Christian and Jewish women learn that Muslim women — women of cover — were afraid of going out of their homes alone, that they went shopping with them, that they showed true friendship and support — an act that shows the world the true nature of America.”
This is what makes America special, its people.