On your mark. Get set. Go! It’s that time of the year again – Black Friday.
After many of us finish gorging on Jennie-O turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce, it will be time to head out early to the stores for those early-bird bargains.
Although many of you prospective shoppers are planning to buy the perfect princess-cut ring for your mother or the new lawnmower for your father to place under the decorated Christmas tree; let’s not forget the focus and true meaning of this time.
Underneath all of the consumerism and non-stop commercial broadcasts lies the core of the holiday season.
It’s time to utilize and cherish the Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa seasons as a time to spend with those things that are truly priceless.
We really don’t know how fortunate we are. Events like the California wildfires, the Virginia Tech massacre and the everlasting “War” in Iraq have claimed thousands of American lives.
For some reason beyond this terrestrial world and bigger than materialistic nothingness, you are here to read this column.
Even though we have our share of struggles and tribulations, life is far more important than worrying about the materialistic side of the holidays.
Instead of spending countless hours walking, or better yet running, down the aisles to grab the last PlayStation 3, those worthless hours should be spent with your loved ones.
What truly irks me – which I am often guilty of – is putting my worldly and acquisitive values ahead of what is truly irreplaceable: family and my religion.
It’s a time for Christians to celebrate and acknowledge the birth of Jesus Chris; the Jewish to commemorate the return of their religious liberty; and the blacks who partake in Kwanzaa to unite as a race of people and remember their ancestors.
I don’t know when we became so caught up in superficial values that we forgot about the rationale of the holidays.
Although the Wal-Marts, Targets and Toys-R-Us’ will continue to make millions of dollars during the holiday season, we need to invest just as much time into our lives and those within it.
Sit back and think.
If all of your worldly possessions were destroyed, including the new toggle coat you got under the Christmas tree, then what would you have left?
You can’t take those things to the spiritual world with you, right? Well, act like you cannot take them with you. It is time to wake up and smell the eggnog.
Nyerere Davidson is a senior public relations student from Milwaukee. He can be reached at nyjournal@hotmail.com.