Keep shopping frenzy out of Thanksgiving

In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God ... One of the keys to a joyful life is to live it with a heart of thanksgiving every day of our lives. Because of our history, we have chosen to give one day - set apart from all the rest - to be a day of rest and a day of "Thanksgiving." This day is the last Thursday of every November.

But what is becoming of our special - set apart - day when we see the greed of the world sneaking in and snatching this gift away from us? And what is becoming of us who stand idly by and do nothing as we are being robbed of our gift of opportunity to share with family and friends as we give thanks for the blessings in our lives, or we give thanks that we are given another day, another breath, another chance to make a difference in the lives around us?

Shopping is with us practically every day of our lives, can we not have one day that we are not bombarded with the pressures that shopping places on us? Now, everyone who has always anticipated shopping on "Black Friday," has to be ripped from their families and their day of rest to participate in a forced Shopping Day, because if they don't, that "special item" that they waited for to be on sale will be snatched up by another crazed shopper on Thanksgiving Day! Thus making Black Friday a joke, since nothing is left on that day following Thanksgiving.

My husband and I have owned a large retail business for more than 25 years, so I can fully grasp the importance of making a large amount of our income in the last quarter, but I also understand the importance of taking care of our employees, the importance of allowing our customers the chance to enjoy time with family and friends. I would not want to rob them of this precious gift. Please allow them just a few days in a year to be free to enjoy life apart from their work, apart from shopping. Life is so much more than this! If you can't give this extra day up, why not start the Christmas Shopping Kick off a week early?

Please! Let us all stand united and speak out against the creeping in of this, cancer of sorts, and let's say no! We want our holiday! We want to have a day set apart just once a year to say thank you! To appreciate those we love, to appreciate the life God has given us. And let us also stand behind all those employees who looked forward to a day of rest that are now forced to work through the holiday and let us shout out, "Bring back our Thanksgiving! It belongs to us! To our families! It does not belong to the shopping malls!"

I have spoken with several people who say that they will give up the "Black Friday" shopping because it cuts into their Thanksgiving holiday, and come the actual "Friday," nothing is left to purchase. Please, keep your Friday shopping day and leave Thanksgiving alone!

Judy Dahlman is a Coeur d'Alene resident.