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Don’t Shop Today: One Woman’s Campaign To Keep Thanksgiving About Family

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(vxla/Flickr)
(vxla/Flickr)

Macy's is opening its doors for Thanksgiving shopping for the first time. But some people are dismayed by the commercialization of the holiday.

One of those people is Annie Zirkel, an author from Ann Arbor, Mich. She has started a Facebook page and a campaign to keep Thanksgiving from becoming the first day of the holiday shopping season, with mad crowds rushing through shopping malls.

In an open letter on her website, Zirkel writes:

Is Thanksgiving disappearing because of corporate profit chasing? Or has our disinterest and irreverence for protecting what is truly valuable invited this disregard for a once-cherished day of giving thanks?

Well besides the answer being BOTH – I think the more important question might be: What can be done?

Will a letter to my local mall or large retailer help? Not likely. But should I write those letters? Yes. Because Thanksgiving means something to me. Because I am not willing to passively watch as this headless, soul-less corporate world runs over something I value – gratitude.

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This segment aired on November 28, 2013.

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