Day 25 Boycotting "black Friday" - Aparigraha

Here is a challenge for me today.  Today is "Black Friday".  I am a business owner, and I am first a yogi.  I live my life through and from yoga.  I have said many times that yoga is not just exercise.  It is a way of life and a philosophy as well.  There are 8 limbs of yoga, 2 of the limbs: yamas and niyamas.  As a dedicated practitioner I make my choices in life based on these 10 observances.  When I feel a little flutter in my chest around something, all I have to do is look at the situation (that is causing the disturbance in the force within me) from one of these yamas or niyamas.

Today it is aparigraha.  Aparigraha challenges us to not accumulate things that we do not need.  Already I have too many things in my home.  Everyone I know says the same thing.  Greed - wanting more - wanting more for less - this has been the downfall of many a society.  I believe it can be found at the root of what is happening in our economy today.  I acknowledge the many thousands of people - worldwide - who have said and are saying "enough is enough".  Who make a stand for what they believe in.  There are "occupy" protests in many major cities because of this greed.  There are businesses failing, people losing their jobs, their homes.  But there is another way emerging.  Another voice.

I boycott black Friday for these reasons and more.  I do not need more things, I don't need to be out shopping in crowds, seeing greed with my own eyes, and I don't like to support events that do not support a sustainable local economy.  If things are being sold for 1/2 price all of the time, who is taking the loss?  You know it is not the large corporations best-paid people.  It is the people who are asked to show up to work at midnight, for a low hourly wage, they are losing sleep, their respect.  They show up to work not because they can't wait to see all of the shoppers at midnight.  They show up to work because they are afraid that they will lose their job if they do not show up. 

I am boycotting black friday because I must take a stand, now.  For a future that is sustainable.  I want a future where all people have access to what they need:  food, shelter, health care, freedom, a career they love, passion and freedom of self-expression.