OPINION:
Family Dollar stores, at least some, are open “the usual hours” on Christmas Day, Fox Business reported. Certain Dollar Tree locations are open, as well, Country Living reported. Just in case — what, somebody needs that plastic tumbler for eggnog or those half-priced candy canes to hang on the soon-to-be-tossed tree?
Sigh. Progress does not always bring positives.
Christmas is about Jesus. And even if Christmas is not, for the seculars of society, about Jesus, Christmas is still about family, friends, wide-eyed children who still believe in magic, gift-giving, warm feelings, Santa and the reindeer, baking cookies, special dinners ’round the holiday table, and so forth.
No disrespect to the dollar stores of America. But Christmas is never about dollar stores.
Neither is the reason for the season about the scores of other stores that have announced openings on Christmas, the day of our Lord — scores that include at least some locations of Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Giant, Safeway and Acme Market outlets, and others.
Merry Christmas. Get your half-off items before they’re gone?
Have to make shelf space for the Valentine’s Day chocolates, doncha know.
It’s one thing for pharmacies to stay open, for urgent medical prescription needs. It’s one thing for 7-Elevens and Sheetz and other convenience-marts-slash-gas-stations to stay open, to provide for traveling and commuting needs.
But do we really need the minimum-wage doughnut makers at Dunkin’s to stay on the job on Christmas Day? Or the cashiers at Walgreens to ring up the magazines and magic marker set, and oh, I’ll take that pack of gum and candy caramel right there, too?
It’s Christmas, for crying out loud. Time for capitalism to take a backseat. Time for stores to close shop, take a break — give their employees breaks — and breathe in the spirit of the day. Or, at the least, the fresh air.
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord,” as the good book says.
Then the shepherds “came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger,” as Luke 2:16 notes.
That’s Christmas, folks. That’s the meaning right there. Imagine: Today’s shepherds might not even make it to the manger, distracted as they could become by the bright neon sale signs in their local dollar shops.
The times, they do a’change. And generally speaking, progress is certainly a good thing. Except when it’s not.
Wisdom, meanwhile, for individuals and for a nation, comes in knowing the difference. And here’s a final thought: These stores wouldn’t open if they didn’t have customers to sell to and serve.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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