It is the easiest day to be an activist: you don’t have to do anything at all.

All of our worst corporate citizens are counting on you to rush out after having a slice of pie and get in line to spend your hard-earned Ameros as you run up your credit card to buy their crap.

Don’t do it.

Take a walk, call an old friend, write a letter. But don’t rush out to buy the Singing Fish, or the latest flat-paneled whatever. You don’t need any of that crap, often the sales are not real (just promotions) and if they even have the barn-buster item, they only have one of them. Don’t join the frenzy.

If you really need a retail fix, shop local, at your neighbor’s Mom & Pop; go to your indie coffee shop, buy a pastry at the bakery down the street. Your dollar stays in the community and is a multiplier for keeping your local economy going and your friends and neighbors employed. Shopping at the Big Stores just sends your buck to somewhere else.

My mom always used to take us on walks and we would scatter wildflower seeds in those abandoned places that every city has. When I see a fine stand of California Poppies popping up in a construction site, or near an old fenced-off parking lot, I always smile a little and think of her.

crossposted from Mock Paper Scissors