Where is Thanksgiving?
As children, Thanksgiving (being the only holiday where no gifts are received) is arguably the least interesting holiday. However, as we age, there is a sudden realization that the most important aspect of this holiday is being able to sit down all together and enjoy one another’s company without having the distraction of material things. This has been ruined the past two years when the American invented holiday of “Black Friday” has started on Thanksgiving day instead of the day after like previous years.
The main opinion about Black Friday is that it is a holiday that was started by Generation Why and is ruled by them. This, however, is not true.
Mat Fontanez, a senior at Pace University, who has a job at Toys R Us was forced to leave his dinner table this Thanksgiving and his family in order to go to work from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. the next day.
He states “I think it is absurd that this generation is being accused of ruining this holiday. Out of all the people I come into contact with on that day none of them are from this generation. They are all parents buying toys for their children, nieces, nephews, and/or friend’s kids.”
According to snag.a.job.com, 30% of all teens in New York work a retail job. With this being said it is almost impossible for millennials to be participating in Black Friday when they are the ones who are working at the retail jobs who are offering the sales.
The same was reported by Sabrina Huie, a St. John’s Freshman, who works for the department store Macy’s. She states: “Black Friday has become bigger than I think anyone could EVER imagine. Macy’s now has Black Friday sales starting from Thanksgiving until Saturday. And then Cyber Monday comes shortly after that. Missing Thanksgiving is completely unnecessary. Parents, the main people who shop on these days, should be the ones who understand that we want to spend this day with our families. They have plenty of time to shop for the gifts for their children.”
The question of why society blames Millennials for this “holiday” continues when we look at reports from parents who work retail. Carol Boscarello, a 34 year old who has worked for JC Penny for 5 years now, expresses her frustration with the holiday in similar ways that the Millennials do. She states, “Thanksgiving used to be a time where I could sit with my kids and enjoy our time together. One thing I learned from having kids is that time is something we think we have a lot of but we don’t. So to take away the one day where it is all about spending time with your family seems a bit ridiculous.”
Carol also states, “I am not sure why Millennials are blamed. I see and help more adults with kids, like myself, than I do these accused kids. I think what people need to realize is that they can not make Millennials their scapegoat. Sometimes we need to step back and realize that we are the problem…not them.”
So maybe the real problem here is that it is habit to blame Generation Y for problems that, it seems, really are not in our control to change as of yet. This generation still works for the generation before us and cannot be accused of taking the family out of a holiday when we work for a generation that takes away this moment of being thankful for the roof over our heads, the food we eat, and the kind and caring people we surround ourselves with.
