Opening on Thanksgiving Backfires for Retail Stores

[liberalhistorian]

34. No, you do not "need" them now

and neither do children. We've just brainwashed the children and consumers into THINKING they need them. I never plied my son with material crap like that for Christmas; in fact, we'd often be helping other kids on the holidays. Yes, he got gifts, but I never put up with the "everyone has this new fancy gizmo and I have to have it too or I'll just die" bullshit. And guess what? He SURVIVED into adulthood. He not only survived, he turned into a very giving, non-materialistic young man who is far more concerned with others than in having the newest gadgets and gizmos and material bullshit.

For the kids who just have to have the latest crap or they'll die, they need to be shown that there are countless children in this country alone, let alone much poorer nations, who don't even get enough to eat and often go to bed hungry, or not enough warm clothing, etc. I live on a poverty-stricken Indian reservation in the west where too many people struggle just to live every day. I have very little patience with posts such as yours, frankly.