Black Friday craze

  This is the first post that I'll write about this annual event in the U.S. Black Friday, as some of you are aware of, is an annual event that happens the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving day, which is every fourth Thursday of November. I have never been to the U.S. yet, so I haven't really witnessed or have been a part of the Black Friday trend where stores offer their lowest, doorcrasher prices that may or may not give Boxing day a run for its money. Actually, products are lower down south than here in the north, and that includes cars, which this Globe and Mail article by Joanne Will attests to. Granted, this article was written months ago, but that still does not change the fact that most products are cheaper in the U.S. than here in Canada. Anyway, that's another territory that I don't want to dive into today.

  What I find most fascinating about Black Friday is that Americans line up or even camp out Thursday midnight just to be the first in line to snag that iPad or any "hot" gadget when it's not really necessary. Okay, I understand that maybe some people do need to shop for Christmas gifts. I completely understand that. But what about those who just camp out on Thursday night or line up early on Friday morning just to grab that product that they "need"? It's just, I don't understand the need for buying or spending hundreds or thousands of dollars (like for an iPad, for instance, or a 60-inch LED HD 3D flat screen television) because it's Black Friday. Because everything is so cheap. And this is a once-a-year event. But do we really need them? I admit that I have succumbed to this corporate North American lifestyle after living here for a while but sometimes, when I go to Anti-Pinoy or Facebook and check this tour guide's profile (Carlos Celdran) where he posts pictures about the impoverished and the poorest of the poor communities in Manila, Philippines, I can't help but be guilty about going shopping or buying a hot chocolate from a local cafe. It's unbelievable how I get to live here in Canada and complain about the cold weather when these children in Ulingan, Manila are living in waste and garbage. It's completely unimaginable. It's horrifying. But I guess that's what makes North America first world nations and the Philippines a third world nation.

  I grabbed these photos from Carlos Celdran's Facebook, which he grabbed from Sidney Snoeck, the owner of these photos. 

  Please visit this website after seeing these pictures: Project Pearls.