Good Friday is now a forgotten day.
It has no meaning. Because it does not draw much business. Malls don’t make much money on a sad day. Media don’t consider it to be “Happy Good Friday.”
Nobody sends a “Happy” greeting. (Thank God!).
I am really tired of this relentless “happiness.” Like, please gimme a break!
If someone did a survey of all the holidays — Mother’s Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, Halloween — and made a comparison between all the corporate sales and discounts and profits, Good Friday would perhaps rank the lowest. It’s not profitable at all.
Wal-Mart, J C. Penny, Target, T. J. Maxx, MacDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell…Gap, Mango, Botany, K-Mart, all the fancy restaurants and cheap joints…make a scientific survey on their sales and profit. You’ll know.
Good Friday is neither good, nor happy for Corporate America.
Yet, even though I am not a Christian, and never want to be one, Christ’s sacrifice on the cross to save his people from the rulers’ wrath greatly inspires me. I remember when I visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where he was crucified, I was emotional.
Good Friday is not about big bombs, new violence, and war drumbeats. It’s about peace.
On this Good Friday, early in the morning, America — with its Christian rulers — dropped the biggest U.S. bomb on Afghanistan. To kill. Many innocent men, women, and children included. Media is okay with it. Democrats and Republicans are okay with it.
Corporate America is totally okay with it.
Jesus Christ is not happy today, either.
Sincerely,
Partha Banerjee
Brooklyn, New York
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