The stages of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day (cooking, eating, couch-nesting, and family fights.)

Black Friday (shopping in the chain stores and big-box stores, for often illusory bargains.)

Shop Local Saturday (support your local businesses! Trust me, you will mourn them if they go.)

Cyber Monday (buy everything online, some of which you probably cynically priced at a chain or local store already.)

Stinky Turkey Tuesday (the punishing miasma that reminds us all of mortality and decay.)

Here in the US, various high-minded folks want to remind us that today should be ‘Giving Tuesday’, set aside for charity contributions. Er, no. If we are being completely honest with each other, that’s probably closer to ‘Tax Panic Day’ sometime between December 26 and New Year’s – when those of us still with any disposable income start finding ways to minimize the taxes on it.

I’m all for charity. But it should be a year-round consideration, not tied to one’s particular church or social group, and it should be anonymous. Charity with your name on it is not pure charity, as Matthew 6 reminds us:

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

And for civilization’s sake, please take out the stinky garbage!