Monday, December 02, 2013

Don't Shop Today: One Woman's Campaign To Keep Thanksgiving About Family

Thursday, November 28, 2013




(vxla/Flickr)

Macy’s is opening its doors for Thanksgiving shopping for the first time. But some people are dismayed by the commercialization of the holiday.
One of those people is Annie Zirkel, an author from Ann Arbor, Mich. She has started a Facebook page and a campaign to keep Thanksgiving from becoming the first day of the holiday shopping season, with mad crowds rushing through shopping malls.

In an open letter on her website, Zirkel writes:


Is Thanksgiving disappearing because of corporate profit chasing? Or has our disinterest and irreverence for protecting what is truly valuable invited this disregard for a once-cherished day of giving thanks?

Well besides the answer being BOTH – I think the more important question might be: What can be done?

Will a letter to my local mall or large retailer help? Not likely. But should I write those letters? Yes. Because Thanksgiving means something to me. Because I am not willing to passively watch as this headless, soul-less corporate world runs over something I value – gratitude.

Guest
Annie Zirkel, author based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She tweets @anniezirkel.
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Transcript


MEGHNA CHAKRABARTI, HOST:

Well clearly not everyone loves the idea of shopping on a day that's supposed to be about gratitude. Several online petitions are urging stores to stay closed today. One on change.org has nearly 400,000 signatures. Annie Zirkel of Ann Arbor, Michigan, started her own save Thanksgiving Facebook page. She's spending today with family, but when we spoke to Annie earlier, she told us why she's so opposed to shopping on Thanksgiving.

ANNIE ZIRKEL: Well, where do I start? Probably the first thing I want to say is that the purpose of Thanksgiving is to be grateful for what you already have. So this idea of going out and getting more stuff is completely counter to the day. Then we move on to the fact that shopping on this national holiday really ruins a lot of people's Thanksgivings. So in order for you to get that sale, that deal, people have to leave their families.

It's just one day of the year where we go the other way. If you want to shop, you have 363 other days of the year. Just give us one.

CHAKRABARTI: You know, I'll admit that for me personally I am very sympathetic to your point of view. But I imagine that there might be some listeners out there who say hey, look, you know, being - we shop together as a family, and making that transition to the rest of the holiday season through those first days of shopping is part of what we do. So we don't mind doing it on Thanksgiving. I mean, what would you say to them?

ZIRKEL: Sure, well, if you're shopping on Thanksgiving, it's a pretty new tradition because we haven't had this kind of creep into the actual day of Thanksgiving. I guess one of the things I say, and I've said this on the Facebook page because a lot of people have shared different stories, is that you're taking away someone else's holiday in order for you to have family time. And that's just an irony to me. That doesn't make sense to me.

CHAKRABARTI: So you mentioned your Facebook page. What are some of the other stories or comments that people have been leaving on the page there?

ZIRKEL: For the most part people are very frustrated. They feel like this tradition, this national tradition is just - has been picked away, and they don't know where to put their frustrations. So they're coming on the page, and they're sharing a lot of sadness, really, but also a serious commitment to not shop on this day or to support retailers who are more connected to their employees and aren't making them have to choose between work and family.

CHAKRABARTI: Have you heard from any retailers? Have they chimed in on the Facebook page or responded to your campaign to preserve Thanksgiving Day from the dirty hands of commerce?

ZIRKEL: I have not heard on the Facebook page, but I've sent out my letters, I've made some phone calls, and I've gotten a pretty standard response, that it's customer demand. And I'd like to meet the customer who demanded that Thanksgiving Day be turned into a commercial holiday.

But the other thing is, and I'm not actually anti-retail, I know it may sound like that, I'm anti-retail on this day. I'm anti-any opportunities to take family away. So of course you have the, you know, police, and you have hospital workers and firefighters and even news people who, you kind of have to be there. But let's keep that to a minimum. Let's not just go overboard, and hey, let's all sort of detract from this.

CHAKRABARTI: I really take your point about the fact that Thanksgiving is, you know, one of the last national holidays where the purpose is to express gratitude rather than consumption. But I also wonder if you're kind of fighting a losing battle because isn't - doesn't it feel like de facto that the Christmas and holiday season has already taken over Thanksgiving?

I mean, you walk into coffee shops and other retail establishments already, and they've begun sort of their Christmas season decorations, at the very least.

ZIRKEL: Yes, I have to say I did walk out of a store when I heard a Christmas jingle. I just thought I'm not ready for this, I can't handle that. So I had to leave. You know, your question about a losing battle, well, I guess the thing is it's not to me about whether we win on a mass scale or a small scale. Every person has to make their own choice. And so if this awareness campaign, which is what I'm really doing, and other people - I mean, there are 100 pages similar to mine with maybe smaller numbers or some bigger numbers.

But I guess the thing is: Is it worth it? And it is worth it to me. Gratitude is so important to me. I have to stand up for it. I'm not willing to give defeat to retailers and people who don't really care about this holiday. I feel like there's a whole other voice that has to be heard on this day.

CHAKRABARTI: And finally, Annie, I'm wondering if you want to share with us what's your favorite thing for you and your family to do on Thanksgiving. What do you love about it the most?

ZIRKEL: Thank you for asking me that. Actually this year we're going to be one short because we lost someone fairly suddenly a couple of months ago.

CHAKRABARTI: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

ZIRKEL: And that's really I think why we have to take this seriously. There's only so many Thanksgivings you get in this world, and so I think we're just really looking for the gratitude, you know, making those moments count.

CHAKRABARTI: First of all, Annie, I'm very sorry to hear about the loss in your family. But I am, in addition, very grateful that you spent some time with us here today. Thank you so much for joining us.

ZIRKEL: Thank you for having me.

CHAKRABARTI: Annie Zirkel of Ann Arbor, Michigan. She's one of several people who have started campaigns encouraging retailers to respect the spirit of Thanksgiving. And we should note that there are three states where it's actually against eth law for major retailers to open today. In Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine, so-called blue laws bans large supermarkets and big box stores from doing business on Thanksgiving. This is HERE AND NOW. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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