So after Thanksgiving comes the dreaded Black Friday, the less awful but still consumerist Small Business Saturday, the slightly bizarre Cyber Monday, and now Giving Tuesday. I have no problem with giving, but for some reason the idea of Giving Tuesday bothers me.
It might be the idea of grouping giving with consumption--that it's something you indulge in to feel better about yourself, possibly similar to the way shopping makes you feel good. It might also be that we shouldn't need a day for giving, that it should be integrated into our lives regularly and not just thought about one day a year. It might also be that holidays used to be about spending time with family, taking a break, or celebrating an idea, but that framing a day in this way, especially on the heels of these strange pseudo-holidays, has the potential to degrade the underlying concept of giving.
It might be the idea of grouping giving with consumption--that it's something you indulge in to feel better about yourself, possibly similar to the way shopping makes you feel good. It might also be that we shouldn't need a day for giving, that it should be integrated into our lives regularly and not just thought about one day a year. It might also be that holidays used to be about spending time with family, taking a break, or celebrating an idea, but that framing a day in this way, especially on the heels of these strange pseudo-holidays, has the potential to degrade the underlying concept of giving.
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