Image Courtesy of Colorado Indymedia
While it’s certainly an interesting and laudable idea — trying to reclaim time and head space back from the hyper-capitalist/consumerist society — do we need to use a piece of religious dogma to do it? What’s the difference between doing what we can as a society to free ourselves from corporate mind control and creating laws that would prevent someone from picking up something as simple as a gallon of milk on a certain day?
Denise Civiletti writes at the Riverhead Local:
County Executive Steve Levy wants to force stores to shut down between noon and 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and has proposed a law forcing them to close or face penalties of up to $1,500. (See story.)
I think he’s right.
There are no days off any more, and it’s making us sick as a society. I don’t mean physically ill (though there’s likely a connection there, too); I’m talking about every other kind of wellness: spiritual, emotional and — yes — even moral health and well-being.
Americans have no sabbath. No rest. No forced down-time.
We are a hyper, wired-in, materialistic, people who collectively work 24/7 nearly 365 days a year — all in the pursuit of “things,” which have become our gods.
Who benefits from this craziness? We don’t. We suffer. We don’t spend time with our families, of both the immediate and extended variety. We don’t spend time reading, writing, reflecting, taking walks or just resting. All the things that a SABBATH is all about.
When we had a sabbath — enforced by law — we did all of those things. The stores shut down and so did we. And it was good.
The seven-day shopping week turned us into full-time consumers.
It was inevitable that we would eventually be shopping on “holidays” and the spiritual, emotional and moral barriers to stores being open for business on holidays came tumbling down.
