HAVE YOU EVER BROKEN A VOW?

HAVE YOU EVER BROKEN A VOW?

There are at least three things that I have vowed never to do. Number one, I will not attempt to dance the limbo again, as I know that I would risk permanent damage to my spine, and embarrassment for life. Secondly, I would never choose to sky dive or paraglide as life is dangerous enough when your feet are both on the ground. And thirdly, you would never get me near a mall on Boxing Day to take advantage of any sales of any kind! Today, I confess to breaking one of these vows. (Unintentionally!)

This morning at 7 am I jokingly told my wife, Darlene, we better hurry up as the Boxing Day sales had started at 6 am. I watched the TV news and after a half an hour Darlene came into the TV room fully dressed and said, “Why aren’t you ready?” Of course, I was trapped into showering and getting dressed and accompanying my wife to the mall. How busy could it be at 7:30 am on an icy Wednesday in December?

The area around the mall looked like a used car lot with not a parking space to be found. The shopping gods must have felt sorry for us and we did manage to arm wrestle a tiny Asian lady for a spot. (I won two out of three). The mall was jammed with hundreds, possibly thousands, of drooling and spasmodic shoppers. A lineup of over a hundred people waited patiently to get into Lululemon, and dozens lined up for Pandora jewellery. They must have been giving stuff away! Had we been interested, there were no customers in the Bikini Warehouse (current temperature of minus 7) nor at the Dairy Queen Ice Cream outlet. Many of the shoppers in the mall were lugging large bags with their purchases and the glazed look in their eyes suggested they were in a state of Euphoria! Spending money on Boxing Day was obviously no problem!

When I returned home empty handed I reflected on my experience. The aura of a Boxing Day sale apparently lures hundreds of shoppers to spend more money after Christmas, even after having overspent before the holiday. I found that to be a contrast to the appeals that I witnessed before Christmas. On several occasions I saw or read of appeals for toys for various charitable toy drives and for donations to various food banks. The usual giving experience that occurs during the Christmas season, seemed to be struggling to find donors. The people manning the Salvation Army donation kettles appeared comatose by the lack of shoppers stopping to drop in some cash. Many charities in the city had a hard time reaching their target goals. Money, in our tight economy, seemed to be in short supply when it came to donations. It certainly, seemed to be very evident during my Boxing Day experience. 

As a result of today’s shopping trip, I have now learned not to make rash or joking suggestions that might compromise my values or vows in the future. So next time you see me, if I ask, “Do you want to go sky diving?”, you know that I am kidding!