Black Friday has transitioned into a holiday of its own and is tarnishing Thanksgiving.

It is ironic is that many families will sit at a table to give thanks and show their gratitude for all that they have and not even realize that within the next few hours they will be standing in lines at stores to contradict everything they have just given thanks for.

Like many anticipated holidays people begin to look forward to Black Friday because it does only occur once a year. With the crazed lines, eager and often rude customers, nervous employees and chaotic stores filled with mayhem, it has become evident that the holiday Black Friday has diminished the meaning of giving thanks on Thanksgiving.

But why is this tradition so important? It is nothing but a discounted item. If this tradition has evolved into a holiday, why does it not have the same warm festive feeling that any other holiday would give?

The point is that it is not a holiday; it is a materialistic, market driven day that people use as an excuse to literally shop until they drop.

What makes this event so ironic is that on Thanksgiving we are celebrating all of life’s intangibles, and then just hours later we are viciously determined to fulfill our material needs with everything our money can buy.

Is it morally wrong? Absolutely. Has it become culturally accepted? Definitely.

Black Friday, and the clever marketing scheme behind it, has expanded well beyond the parameters of just the Friday following Thanksgiving. They have pushed their way in to the Holiday itself, opening their doors the night of Thanksgiving.

 This is not only drawing people straight from the dinner table to the aisle of their favorite department stores, but it is also keeping the unfortunate employees of these stores from their families on one of the biggest holidays of the year.

From a businessman’s point of view, Black Friday and the weekend that follows is an absolute gold mine. From a consumer’s point of view, it is the same exact thing.

This is such a universally accepted concept in America that to put up a counter argument against it would be irrelevant.

At what point do we say enough? At what point do we turn our backs on the money hungry corporations of America and come back to the family values that built and molded this holiday in the first place?

Never. We have ventured down a one way road with no exit. Just hope that at the end, there is something that makes all of this worth the journey.