If you’ve followed me for a while, and I suspect that there are VERY few of you left from the old days when this blog was mostly about food and voluntary simplicity and anti-consumerism, you know that I’ve celebrated Buy Nothing Day on the day after Thanksgiving even before I knew there was such a thing. I am NOT a shopper. I HATE crowds and traffic. I am, in fact, quite phobic about crowds, enough that I often avoid movies, concerts, plays, and even church because I don’t like sitting closely with a bunch of strangers. Vestiges of agoraphobia. For a long time I was a retail worker and the two days after Thanksgiving were the busiest days of the year. So you better believe that I will be spending the day at home and appreciating the ability to do so.
However, now that I am a member of a local artists’ co-op that desperately needs some sales, I am not pushing Buy Nothing Day today, even though I personally will be buying nothing because I am broke after spending all my money on house repairs and a Kindle Fire this month. I am asking that if you’re out there spending money, consider spending some or all of it with your locally-owned small businesses and restaurants instead of the chain stores and restaurants. I’ve watched so many of my favorite small businesses go down in flames this year. It has been very sad.
If we don’t support our small locally-owned businesses, we soon will not have any choices other than merchandise made in bulk and shipped in from countries who do not treat their workers or their environment with respect. The quality of goods continue to be lowered to meet the corporation’s ever lower prices, forcing us to replace our goods more often (such as this crappy HP laptop which is on its way out and is being replaced by that cheap Kindle Fire) and fill our landfills with more stuff. Our citizens will continue to go on long-term unemployment and pray for compassion to awaken in the hearts of our Congress.
So today, I ask you to either Buy Nothing and enjoy the company of your family and friends and Self, or to buy local if you must.
slowly she turned 