With the Thanksgiving weekend and Christmas quickly approaching, it’s typically normal to see the atmosphere of SHS teachers’ and students’ attitudes flare up. We all just finished indulging in food and giving thanks for what we have. In some cases, It might’ve cost us a lot to prepare for Thanksgiving. Whether that might be buying and cooking food, or even hosting. Nevertheless, we’re all worn out. Most spent their money on Black Friday. With all of the discounts at a variety of local retail stores, cash pours in at an enormous rate. According to CNN’s Analytics, customers spent 11.6 billion dollars online in the course of the shortest time recorded. This is a prime example of how much disposable income we as Americans can spend with mass corporations such as Google, Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and much more. 

This means that after Thanksgiving, local companies can use Black Friday and Cyber Monday as an opportunity to make more money on holiday products. For the situation of Christmas quickly approaching, we’re quick to spend money on our loved ones. We’re unaware of issues such as families that cannot afford a Christmas, which we always take for granted that 11.6 billion dollars are being spent and never touched again. In this recurring situation, more and more people are taking what’s valued for granted. This means that there are plenty of opportunities where we as students, children, and families can make changes. Simply by being grateful and giving back to others such as local food and clothing drives, etc. Organizations such as the Salvation Army are always accepting donations. Start off your holiday season by making an impact on someone else. Knowing that they got a donation from a family, they’ll be grateful that you took the time out of your day to do so.