This Black Friday, as you shuffle your cart o’ merchandise into an obscenely long line of holiday shoppers, just think: How can these big box stores afford to give you half off their already “low low prices?”
It’s not generosity. It’s not even strategy. It’s simply because the product wasn’t worth half it’s price to begin with. It’s because it was made in a factory with thousands more exactly like it, out of mediocre materials, assembled by workers on their eleventh hour yet still not making a living wage. All in the name of consumption. And ’tis the season, so bring on the consumers.
Our money is our vote for what kind of world we want to raise our children in. When we vote for commercial consumption, we hand that power over to a corporate entity. It is a vote for overflowing landfills, underpaid workers, outsourcing, pollution, and corrupt political practices.
But we do have a choice. A choice between becoming just another obedient consumer, or being a supporter of something bigger and better. We can choose to support small businesses in a world of corporate sprawl. We can choose to support craftsmen and women in a world of mass production. We can choose to empower a family of entrepreneurs, instead of a billion dollar corporation. Choose to empower an artist, rather than pad a CEO’s overseas bank account.
When we support small family businesses, local shops, artists and artisans, we are voting for change. We are empowering the people, and taking part in their movement. A much needed movement toward creativity, sustainability, and community. And when you choose to empower this movement, your vote becomes even more powerful. Because the people you have chosen to support also make this same choice. And your money, your power, your vote lives on… continuing to support families, communities, artists, musicians, inventors, entrepreneurs, students, activists, and on and on…
On this Thanksgiving, and on all days, I am grateful to those who have chosen to be a part of this movement. It is because of your “vote” that I am able to create art in my studio every day. I am able to teach my children at home. I am able to feed them healthy, home cooked meals. And in turn, I use your “vote” to empower an organic farmer, a book store owner, a musician, a local brewery, a midwife, another artist, and on, and on…
Just think.
