I’ve never understood the point of Black Friday. I understand the concept that the next upcoming holiday is Christmas and everyone gets excited but it’s not like people regularly wait for Thanksgiving to end so they can start decorating for Christmas. People are already hearing Christmas music while shopping for their Halloween costumes.

This year, there will be 26 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. In 26 days, a lot can change. You can find a gift that is so much better but instead you are stuck with the discounted item you woke up at four in the morning and spent two hours in line to get.

Black Friday also might as well be called “Black Weekend after Thanksgiving.”  It’s not unusual for the bargain prices you find on Friday to also be found on Saturday and Sunday.  I spent about a half hour last year on Saturday at 11 buying the iPhone that I would’ve waited for maybe two hours for, at the same price, on Friday.

High school students are given Black Friday off, so I don’t understand why you would give up the extra hours to go wait in lines in the cold.  I take every hour of sleep I can get and would much rather spend the morning in my own bed and pjs than surrounded by swarms of people all reaching for the same iPad as me.

Another alarming Black Friday not-so-fun fact is that customers are physically injured and hospitalized by the mobs of people that attack discount prices.  There is a website called www.blackfridaydeathcount.com, that records all the deaths and injuries that result from shopping during that day.  At the top of the website, it reads seven deaths and 90 injuries.  The most recent recorded death occurred last year when a teen fell asleep behind the wheel driving home from shopping and was killed in a collision.  Other incidents include shoppers being stabbed or shot trying to get the best deal.

I avoid stores, malls, and Walmarts as best as I can the weekend of Black Friday.  I always leave my Christmas shopping until two weeks before the big day and the gifts I want to give are at a reasonable price. My family members will survive if I don’t get them the newest blender or iPhone.

I don’t understand putting your health at risk for cheaper prices that only occur one day a year. It doesn’t make sense to me to wake up and drag yourself out of your warm bed and into the cold, only to fight with other shoppers for discounts.  I find that this holiday based on shopping for lower prices with your health at risk to be unreasonable and unnecessary.