Between the Chik-Fil-A controversy, the Hostess debacle and Black Friday moving to Thursday I’ve about had it with capitalism this year. I now feel guilty for liking my favorite fast food chicken, don’t know who to blame for the death of the Twinkie and am disappointed that one of my favorite days of the year is being tarnished by its new time slot. For someone who doesn’t care much about things like business, money and marketing, they’re starting to take up way too much of my mind space and, more importantly, my Facebook newsfeed.

I’m not a fan of boycotts. I don’t mind people pulling their money away from people, places and things they don’t agree with or find major fault in. Hopefully, we all do it in some way, as personal preference and opinion are what make consumerism tick.

It bothers me, however, when groups of people tell me where I shouldn’t be spending my money. Maybe I’m just a rebel who doesn’t want a cause, but as soon as someone tells me I shouldn’t eat at Chik-Fil-A it kind of makes me want to eat at Chik-Fil-A. The rhetoric goes in as “you’re giving money to people who undermine civil rights” but processes in my brain as “mmm, chicken.” Ultimately, I doubt there are any companies out there that accurately reflect my personal belief system, so I’d rather just base our relationship on what I think of their products rather than their politics.

While boycotts seem like the grown up version of “I’m not going to be your friend anymore,” the demise of Hostess quickly turned into a case of they said/they said. Is it the workers fault? Is it the management’s fault? Did union demands kill the Ding Dong or did it die at the hands of corporate greed

After four years I still can’t seem to keep track of when my kids need more money on their school lunch cards, so I really shouldn’t spend too much of my time delving into the pay scale and corporate structure of Hostess Brands Inc. I don’t love the idea of strikes and think employees are as responsible as employers for helping to keep companies afloat. That being said, the large sums of money some CEOs make for steering corporate ships into a dismal abyss is disgusting at best. Frankly, why anyone would require or want millions of dollars per year to do even the best job ever is beyond my comprehension.

Having such vast amounts of money to your name would be like juggling several mistresses at once. Aside from it being morally questionable, it also has to be a big ol’ pain in the booty. New clothes and a nice dinner out once in awhile sound nice, but private jets and 10,000 square foot mansions for any member of the human race just doesn’t make sense to me.

Of course, Black Friday doesn’t make sense to many people either and I happen to love it. While some think it interferes with family tradition, it has become our family tradition. My sister and I usually spend the whole day together, including a priceless, once-a-year kidless lunch out with our parents

As with so much in this world, there can be too much of a good thing, however. After a few years of toying with the idea, post-Thanksgiving American tradition is starting to spill ruthlessly over into Thanksgiving Day. A few rogue companies that opted to open their doors on Thanksgivings past are now being joined by quite the onslaught of popular favorites like Walmart, Sears and Target.

Oh, Target, say it ain’t so!

As much as Black Friday is my one day off from parenting a year, Thanksgiving is one of the very few days a year where I get to just parent without all of the other external interferences. I love the idea of end-capping Thanksgiving with some good old-fashioned hunting and gathering for my family after a short almost-winter’s nap, but I don’t even like the idea of somehow making it a part of our Thanksgiving Day. Can’t we just get one day off from consumerism before we get our one big day of it on?

I’ve about had it with capitalism this year but, being a part of a capitalistic society, I’m sure capitalism is no where near done with me. Just as we are sometimes born into family traditions that don’t necessarily suit us, so are we born into ill-suited cultural traditions. We either accept the bad or change it as we see fit. We give thanks for the good. C’est la vie.

Shannon and her husband, Michael, are raising three children in Sylvania. Email her at letters@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: Black Friday, Chik-Fil-A, Family Practice, Shannon Szyperski, Target, Thanksgiving

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 21st, 2012 at 7:19 am and is filed under Arts and Life, Family Practice.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

I’m not the best at writing thank you notes beyond e-mail and Facebook, and, even with such easy means of saying “thanks,” I sometimes move too quickly onto the next thing without stopping to appreciate what I already have. Personally, I am thankful for:

1. Our dentist and his staff, who are friendly and professional and who very successfully performed the first-ever cavity filling on one of my children.

2. All of the coaches, referees and umpires who have helped to mold my son’s athletic side and see him through both victory and defeat.

3. My husband’s company, which allows him to be an involved father and husband

4. A loving and omnipresent peer group of fellow parents, whose insights and hard work make parenting that much more manageable and enjoyable.

5. My nieces and nephews, who give me such joy and pride as I watch them grow into fine individuals.

6. The incredible people of my church, who set a constant example of thanks and of giving.

7. Being a part of Toledo Free Press, a publication I am proud to have my name in week after week.

8. My son’s elementary school teachers and staff, who keep him safe and cultivate his mind.

9. My daughter’s preschool teachers, who accepted a kicking, screaming little girl into their classrooms many a day and helped make the pit in my stomach feel a little smaller.

10. The makers of toilet paper, baby wipes and toothbrushes, who have added hours of fun to my youngest child’s little world

11. Every one of my in-laws, who continually disprove that the term “in-law” is deserving of a negative connotation.

12. Clothing manufacturers, who create the only gift guaranteed to please my middle child.

13. Military personnel, veterans, police officers, firefighters and anyone else who lives a commendable life of duty, danger and constant uncertainty.

14. My neighbors, who make my in-perpetual-need-of-attention house worthwhile.

15. My husband’s euchre group, which gives him a much-needed, once-a-month break from the nonstop chaos that is his home life.

16. My siblings and their partners, who remain my constant friends regardless of the space and time between us.

17. My fellow moms, who take me out and get me laughing just when I need it most.

18. Everyone who helps to keep roads and the friendly skies safe as I travel and as my loved ones travel day after day.

19. All of the acquaintances and strangers bold enough to remind this mother of three on a semi-regular basis that it doesn’t last forever.

20. All of the happily married couples who constantly model true love and commitment.

21. My dad, a 64-year-old man who spent two months flying back and forth to Louisiana, living in a makeshift dormitory and working 12-hours-a-day and six-days-a-week to help clean up oil and make money to help send his children and grandchildren to Las Vegas for his son’s wedding.

22. My mom, who let him go and held down the fort in his absence.

23. My children’s pediatrician, who not only allays fears and keeps my children healthy, but encouraged me to have the third child who has made our family feel complete.

24. BCSN and YouTube, which have kept my sports-minded son content within the confines of an ESPN-less family.

25. Facebook, which helped to solve a neighborhood crime, found me an otherwise unavailable birthday gift for my dad, allowed me to relate to people I wouldn’t have known otherwise and kept me connected to the outside world from the inside of my house.

26. All of the people who take the time to read what I have to say.

27. Innumerable layers of friends and family, who make this life enriching and full.

28. My children, who think I’m a superhero even on the days I can’t think of one thing I’ve done right.

29. My husband and best friend, who made my dream of being a wife and a mother come true and whose love and loyalty has made me never want to turn in any other direction.

30. All of the people in invisible occupations that serve me and my family so quietly and so seamlessly that I fail to even recognize the differences you make in our everyday lives.

31. Thanksgiving itself, which gives me an opportunity to remember to appreciate all of those little things I may have forgotten otherwise.

E-mail Shannon at letters@toledofreepress.com.

Tags: Family Practice, Shannon Szyperski, Thanksgiving

This entry was posted on Monday, November 22nd, 2010 at 7:39 pm and is filed under Arts and Life, Family Practice.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.