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The holiday season was filled with joy and cheer; we didn’t have to worry about the economy, global climate, racism or poverty. Now we know better; yet, Americans are still Christmas junkies. The tables have turned and instead of just being kids in a candy shop, we are kids in a candy shop equipped with credit cards.
shoppers wait in interminable lines to rummage through stores to find the best deals on the best toys and gadgets. Some are there to window shop, but during this season, most are there to spend their hard-earned dollars to bring smiles to the faces of their family and friends. Of course, more and more people prefer to avoid the crowds and click away on their computers, still buying gifts, though. Thanksgiving weekend was only the beginning of a season embellished with frivolity.
The weekend wedged between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is the biggest shopping weekend of the year. Literally millions of people swipe their credit cards or type in their expiration dates online.
As estimated by the National Retail Federation, shoppers spent $41.2 billion Thanksgiving weekend. Online shopping in these days accounted for another $2 billion. This is just a small portion — four days — of holiday shopping. These numbers don’t account for 24 days in December or the 11 other months of the year. Total holiday spending is a truly unimaginable number, climbing through the hundreds of billions.
Increases aren’t exponential, but nevertheless, holiday spending has increased over the past few years. Although average families tend to be spending less money this year, more people are shopping, causing the increase. Perhaps we are all just trying to ease the pain of these tough economic times with some jolly ‘ol gift giving.
We think nothing of it.
America’s Research Group estimates that donations of $20 or greater to charities will rise to 42.6 percent of consumers this year. Less than half of people who will spend money on Christmas this year will donate to charity. The bottom line is that if you have enough money to spend a few hundred dollars on Christmas, you have enough money to donate $20 — to any charity.
As we prepare for our holiday meals, we should all consider the fact that almost 15 percent of U.S. households are considered “food insecure” by the USDA. These are not just the homeless or the relatively poor, but many of these people and families include the working poor or recently unemployed. To put things in perspective, the Wisconsin State Journal reports that one in 10 households in our state have struggled with food insecurity since 2006. Think about nine friends, and then think about the fact that one of those friends — if not you — has not had the proper amount of food or nutrition. Food. Not video games or North Face backpacks or fancy cheeses. Just food — any food.
I repeat myself only because it is a difficult concept to grasp when you’ve never personally struggled with it. While people celebrating Christmas think about what fabulous gift will be tucked under the tree, there will still be 15 percent of Americans wondering if they will be able to eat after the New Year.
According to Jim Carrier, a board member of the River Food Pantry of Madison, food pantries are overstocked during the holidays because of well-advertised food drives, such as NBC 15’s Share Your Holidays. This is good. This shows that giving during the holidays truly can be charitable.
However, the rest of the year is not so lucky. While donating during the holidays is certainly important, perhaps the billions of people spending billions of dollars on Christmas might consider saving a few dollars from their holiday budgets so that their neighbors, friends and fellow Americans can eat half as well as they will.
By no means should donating to charity be an obligation anyone has to face, but rather, a way to celebrate our humanity. If we want to live in a world where everyone is equal, we should at least help each other put food on the table. We should remember that the holidays are a time to spend with family and that a little sacrifice so that all people can feel the same amount of joy every day is not such a huge sacrifice after all.
Jaimie Chapman ([email protected]) is a junior intending to major in journalism.
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The REAL “less fortunate” are those Flood bastards once I go Needler on their ass
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Jaimie, I believe in helping those less fortunate, but if I don’t buy that Xbox, some Best Buy employee may be laid off. Spending money at the stores is what keeps working people from ending up like the autoworker who’s unemployment just ran out.
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If we have to forget our xboxes you have to forget your cosmetics.
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Liberal Hippie. Move to NYC
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FYI: hippie hasn’t been an insult in decades.
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Good on ya, Jaimie!
While you’re on the topic, let’s see if we can get the oh so sanctimonious Liberals to pull their charitable giving weight this Christmas…. for a Change! Here’s some fun facts about charitable giving.
Arthur C. Brooks, a professor at Syracuse University, published “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism.” The surprise is that liberals are markedly less charitable than conservatives.
— Although liberal families’ incomes average 6 percent higher than those of conservative families, conservative-headed households give, on average, 30 percent more to charity than the average liberal-headed household ($1,600 per year vs. $1,227).
— Conservatives also donate more time and give more blood.
— Residents of the states that voted for John Kerry in 2004 gave smaller percentages of their incomes to charity than did residents of states that voted for George Bush.
— Bush carried 24 of the 25 states where charitable giving was above average.
— In the 10 reddest states, in which Bush got more than 60 percent majorities, the average percentage of personal income donated to charity was 3.5. Residents of the bluest states, which gave Bush less than 40 percent, donated just 1.9 percent.
— People who reject the idea that “government has a responsibility to reduce income inequality” give an average of four times more than people who accept that proposition.
My perhaps forlorn Hope is that this will Change the Liberals penurious bleeding hearts into real constructive charitable actions!
Hope….. Change…..
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Here’s my question: How much of that giving among conservatives was SPECIFICALLY to their own churches? For tax purposes, such money is identical. However, for money going to the people who need it, that varies greatly. Many churches do an excellent job making sure that charitable donations go to endeavors to make lives better for people in other countries; but many spend the vast majority of that money on building funds and lavishly paying their preachers. As far as the above cited study is concerned, though, it’s all charitable giving.
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Here’s my question: Did you hope to justify your personal Scrooge mentality and stony Liberal stinginess by denigrating the documented generosity of others?
Sew up your tattered dignity with what remains of your needle thin generosity and, for the 1st time in your life show magnanimous generosity without any expectation of reward or return gratitude. Just Do It!
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Ah, bashing the religious again, are we? OK, I’d be inclined to believe that liberals actually give as much as conservatives. The problem is that liberals actually force charitable giving down everyone else’s throats, in the form of higher taxes. Liberals also forget the fact that highers taxes lead to job loss because business owners are either taxed out of existence or in the case of manufacturers, they’re forced to move jobs to China and Mexico. And thus, a greater need for charity in the form of even higher taxes. Add to that the fact that many social services agencies spend 70% of their budget on salaries and the remaining 30% on actually helping those in need.
There is plenty of hypocrisy and therefore blame on both sides of the fence. Liberals and conservatives can keep beating each other over the head forever and a day, but the problem is still there. That’s why I feel that voters should look to third parties for effective leadership from now on. Democrats and Republicans have taken turns screwing up the country longer than long enough. Most Americans are no longer party loyalists anyway, so what’s the point in maintaining the status quo? We need real change and we need it now.
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What does this have ANYTHING to do with this article? She says nothing about liberals or conservatives and makes none of the claims that you seem to refute.
I have never seen conservatives on the defensive to such a large degree.
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Forget those less fortunate, remember the Xbox!
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“By no means should donating to charity be an obligation anyone has to face, but rather, a way to celebrate our humanity.”
Sacrificing to the needy is not a celebration of humanity. To celebrate humanity is to celebrate the best in man - his achievements, not the lack of them.
The holiday season is not frivolity, but a celebration of wealth creation - of productivity and achievement. It is the reward for earning and producing.
http://www.capmag.com/articlePrint.asp?ID=2254
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Creation of wealth = one of humanity’s achievements? I’ve got a real achievement humanity can strive for: sharing. Everything else is frivolous.
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Sharing of what? Blank-out.
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I thought about donating to charity (Toys for Tots) in my grandson’s name this year, but I would much rather enjoy giving HIM something he can use (and maybe his mother too). If I was a millionaire, donating to charity - absolutely!!!!!