Spend holiday (or money) as you see fit

This editorial appears in the Nov. 25, 2011, Yakima Herald-Republic.

Thanksgiving began as an appreciation of what we have amid times of want. But this being America, the sentiment of the holiday in recent decades has coexisted with this country's innate knack for recognizing and then capitalizing on economic opportunity.

In fact, that was the thought process in 1941 when Congress established the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day, as opposed to the final Thursday of the month. Putting the holiday on the fourth Thursday would ensure a roughly four-week shopping season that wouldn't be cut short in those years when November has five Thursdays -- which occurs next year, by the way.

This eventually led to "Black Friday," idiomatically the day after Thanksgiving when retailers went into the black, meaning showing a profit, for the year. It is deemed the busiest shopping day of the year -- and anyone frequenting a mall today will be hard-pressed to disagree.

These days, Black Friday has evolved into "Black-as-Night Thursday," as stores move up opening times to accommodate eager shoppers in search of a bargain -- or in search of goods before they sell out. What were crack-of-dawn store openings five years ago have evolved to midnight extravaganzas. And now, a few stores are letting people in as early as 9 p.m. Thursday; anticipatory shoppers began lining up Tuesday in the Yakima Valley.

This Occupy Thursday movement has prompted a bit of a backlash. Laments run from the commercial degradation of the meaning of a sacrosanct holiday, to workers and their advocates complaining about disrupting time with family and friends.

We are sympathetic to the workers who join the relatively short list of those pulling Thanksgiving duty, such as emergency services personnel, medical workers and, yes, even a few newspaper employees. We thank those who worked Thursday so that others could enjoy the day off. We are also sympathetic to the principle that for those with the day off, a holiday should remain just that: a respite that is unfettered by daily cares.

But this commercial creep has developed over the better part of the past century, pushed by the invisible hand of economic inevitability. This is America's consumer society at work -- or as many shoppers view it, at play.

About one-third of Americans shop on Black Friday, according to one survey, and we imagine participants in Black-as-Night Thursday will draw disproportionately from that group. They now have that choice. The other two-thirds who have chosen alternatives to Friday at the mall remain free to do so, and they can extend that eschewal to Thursday night.

We are free to join the crowds, and we are free to join the crowd that avoids the crowds. We can shape the meaning of Thanksgiving in the way that we see fit, whether cozy time at home or frenzied time at the mall. That's how it's done in this country, and for that our nation's residents can, we must note, give thanks.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Sharon J. Prill, Bob Crider, Frank Purdy and Karen Troianello.