Every fourth Thursday of November, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving Day tocommemorate the first big feast between the European settlers, called the Pilgrims, and the Native American tribe that helped and taught them how to farm, hunt, and survive the winter.   This is a special time for gatherings and giving thanks for all our blessings, our families, and friends.   Some also chose this day to volunteer or help feed the unfortunate. 

A traditional dinner consists of potatoes, corn, corn bread, casseroles, stuffing, pumpkin pie, and the giant TURKEY!  The bird is so huge that it is impossible to consume it all in one meal.  There had been times when we would eat the turkey leftovers everyday for two weeks.  So in recent years, since we have a small family here in Washington, we opted for miniture turkeys. 

However, the turkeys I’m refering to on the title are not the poultry, but the people that brave the horrors of Black Friday.  A day after Thanksgiving, it marks the beginning of the traditional Christmas season and is supposedly the busiest shopping day in the United States.  And this year, I decided to experience it first hand. 

Crowds line up (or camp out) before the store hours, and as early as midnight, in front of their favorite retailers for a chance to get early-bird specials.  Many store items are sold at greatly discounted prices “while supplies last.”  Many people have been seriously injured, and some have died, from the “human stampede”  and fighting.  Walmart, in response to the death of one of it’s workers after being trampled by a mob of shoppers in New York last year, have decided to open it’s doors to Black Friday shoppers as early as midnight this year.  Discounted items were spread throughout the store, covered with plastic wrapping, guarded by several staff/security,  and then unwrapped and distributed at 5 o’ clock in the morning.  This kind of crowd control appears to be effective  at our local Walmart.  Of course, I still saw the occassional shoving and yelling.

But with all the hassle of waking up early, fighting with the mob,waiting in line for hours, and the possibility of getting injured or even killed, plus with all online shopping available, I don’t really see why we do it.  Most of these purchases are things that we don’t even need, anyway.  Then it must be just the thrill of the experience. 

Me, I didn’t buy anything.  But I was excited to get free donuts.

Do you think the Pilgrims sold their harvest to the Native Americans at a discounted price?

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MrNonsense is Jesse. He was born and raised by two solid parents in Tondo, Manila. He came to Iowa when he was 17 and is now raising a family in Washington, where a group of Filipinos adopted them as their own. Mr. Nonsense can often be seen in the Tacoma-Seattle area carrying a camcorder, accompanied by his two sons and his personal chauffeur, his wife. He uses his Tondo upbringing to nurture his children and to survive in a mental institution, where he currently works. He enjoys basketball, cooking, singing, cartooning, producing short movies, and making his own furniture out of junked wood because he's so cheap. He is a self-proclaimed "Man of the House,"...when his wife is not home.