Compassionate Love: Displaying compassion for those who struggle with mental illness  (c)2014 Nancy Virden

Hollywood is abuzz as celebrities and businesses prepare for the holiday. Rumors fly with new allegations of violence, public misbehavior, and scandal. This week though, they seem to care about the special day, the big day.

Our most important holiday is nearly here – the annual twenty-four hours mix of dysfunction and joy!

Black Friday.

What? On Thanksgiving Day we exercise one of the greatest preventive measures to negativity and sadness. Gratitude. On Thursday we will give thanks for obscure things – God, family, friendships, love, compassion, hope, food, shelter, clean water, laughter, health, and life. The small stuff.

But Friday! Yes, Friday we will celebrate money by spending it or complaining we cannot spend it. We will be grateful for the opportunity to feed one of America’s  most infamous gods – materialism. We’ll haul crying babies, tired grade school children, and cranky spouses through a maze of other squalling and impatient shoppers. If we miss a bargain, we’ll whine about it through Christmas or longer.

It’s a festive time of trying to copy the rich and famous and spending more than we can afford. After all, we and our families deserve the best!

No doubt, all the stars will be out on Black Friday. In Hollywood, maybe there will be a sighting or two. How awesome is that?

Gloriously, around the universe enormous lights will burn and explode bringing to us a view of twinkling stars for which to be grateful. We can appreciate it – that is, if we care about the small stuff.

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