“Mankind was my business;
. . . charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all, my business.” I scanned past the many
videos on social media of people fighting over things during Black
Friday sales. People elbowed others to claim televisions or rice cookers. They
trampled each other and wrestled dolls and video games out of outstretched
hands, then they laughed derisively as they headed for the checkout counters. *** The term Black Friday has
a long history –before it came to represent the big sales day after
Thanksgiving where stores vie with each other to attract sales, it used to refer
to the Wall Street Crash of the 1860’s. It all has to do with money and
economics. Merchants willingly go into
the “black” to meet sales quotas, but don’t let that fool you. If done right,
they do not lose any money. They make up any loss by selling in volume, and often,
once customers have been lured into their store, they buy other items. I think we should take the
evolution of the word Black…
Just yesterday, I was twenty
years old. In college. Getting my teaching certificate. The world ahead was wide
open. My dreams were finally blossoming. Just yesterday, I was in
my forties. Married. Three children. A career that I loved. Things weren’t perfect
and my dreams had taken a 180, but I wasn’t complaining. Just yesterday, I was in
my sixties. Divorced. Remarried to someone who understood me better than anyone.
Kids grown, married, with families of their own. One wonderful career
accomplished; a second one just beginning. Just yesterday, I couldn’t
hurry fast enough to get everything done that I wanted. Now I am here, at this
stage of life. I look back to yesterday and it is full of memories, people,
family, good times and bad. Just yesterday, I started
with a list and now I hold this scrapbook in my hands. It is full, pieces stick
out of the pages, stuffed full of memories. Every picture, every entry, every
tiny scrap, good or bad, reminds me of trials, hugs, laughter, experien…