The mariner is in the middle of a series suggesting oneness is a tool to help make good decisions. Even as he writes, retail giants and smaller chains alike have decided to extend black Friday back to the morning of Thanksgiving Day. This means workers will not enjoy a moment of celebration of family, a break from the stresses of a capitalist-driven world. Kudos to some corporations who will not intrude on the holiday. These companies deliberately stand for a culture that recognizes a world beyond pursuit of the almighty dollar.

In past posts, the mariner has touched on the subject of slavery as an evolutionary process. Splitting of parents and children is no longer de rigueur – if one doesn’t include immigration policy of the United States. Likewise, it is not legal to prevent employees from leaving their corporate family – or is it? With salaries that have been stagnant since the 1980’s, few families have the resources to move, sustain themselves long enough to find a decent job, or even attend night classes to improve their education.

As slaves were given minimal rations and poor housing, it is no better today. There are vast neighborhoods in American cities where joblessness is around 25% – 30%, the homes are in disrepair and, as in Detroit, utilities are shut off because the Detroit and Michigan governments have failed to represent these oppressed neighborhoods. The likely fault lies in racism, elitism, and especially gerrymandering. These neighborhoods are full of slaves, are mistreated like slaves and, ironically, even today separate parents and children because a whole family cannot live on food stamps or a meager income by the father which forces him to leave his family so that the family can qualify for welfare.

Still, there was an opportunity to glean even more from those who had poor paying jobs. Banks and mortgage companies misrepresented the cost of buying a home – such a basic need for the lower working class – knowing that later balloon payments would be beyond the income of the borrowers. This resulted in the economic collapse of 2008 and the ruin of financial security for millions of families. Still, the banks made billions of dollars and walked away from this crime on humanity without one prison sentence, not even one trial.

And now corporate greed is taking away the most sacrosanct holiday for families: Thanksgiving.

Is this the work of God?

Is this the work of greed?

Certainly oneness was not used to make decisions about the wellbeing of the greater reality – the need of millions of workers to be normal, family-based human beings.

Ancient Mariner