it`s black friday

it’s the day after thanksgiving. there was a lot of space available at the subway parking lot when i arrived this morning and the trains were running almost empty. for a change, i could pick a seat. at the office, there’s hardly anybody. most of the staff have taken a day off. i feel a pang of sudden loneliness.

people start calling this day as black friday as in black plague. it scares the hell out of them. i don’t understand why. will somebody enlighten me?

is it because it’s a day when most people find themselves sick? with all the handshaking, hugging, and kissing on the cheeks that are customary at this time of the year, colds and flu can spread around discreetly like the silent discharge of one’s intestinal gas.

is it because it’s a day when malls open as early as 12 a.m. offering shoppers the best bargains of the year and happily allowing them to go deep into credit card debt buying things they don’t really need?

is it because it’s a day when people find themselves depressed? you know, the holiday season can give some people the blues because their thanksgiving or christmas or whatever doesn’t match up to madison avenue’s portrayal of what it should be. it could be because the holiday meal isn’t as festive and sumptuous as it appears on tv commercials. it could be because the gifts that they have received are practical and everyday stuff and not the ones in their wish list. it doesn’t matter that grandpa and grandma, mom and dad, and their siblings are there to share the day with them. it’s a day that will live in infamy.

but, trust me, when they look back many years from now, they’d gladly exchange the best thing that money can buy for the real deal – the supposedly bad thanksgiving or christmas day with their family.