Patriotic Gift Giving The Way Back From The Recession.
Gift patriotically by choosing handmade gifts or just gifts manufactured 100% in America or Canada when we make our next gift selection for what ever gifting occasion is next on the gifts horizon, we will be helping Northern America recover from the slump she finds herself in.
I fully , realize it’s extremely challenging these days to go gift shopping and find anything made in Northern America gifts or otherwise , the stuff just isn’t on the shelves, and with our regular constantly hectic trying to beat clock style of life, that seems to of over taken us all, we don’t feel we have the time to check labels, we grab what’s cheapest and are on our way, even though we should take the time, after all, this is exactly this mind set that has brought us to where we are today. Teetering On the brink of the biggest recession the western world has known for decade’s .We must regenerate our patriotism by the gifts we gift.
Why when we gift shop? When we shop for gifts we are inclined to spend that little extra time more than we normally do as we are looking for a gift item that will make someone we love or care about feel special, to show them we care. The gift we select is not only a reflection of how much we care for them, the gift is also a reflection on the person buying or choosing the gift as none of us are comfortable with the tag of crappy gift giver are we. Lets also make our gifts reflect our patriotism by buying gifts that are made in the US or Canada.
So, as most of us take the extra time when looking for that perfect gift for someone. We’ve now slowed down from our normal hectic pace it’s easier to read the labels and find out where that particular gift item is made and if that gift is not made in North America move on. I know its next to impossible to find something made in Canada or America at Wal-Mart or Kmart but you don’t have to gift shop there, particularly if you choose to select a handmade gift, you can gift buy from craft shows, craft fairs and online craft malls, you could even have one of these handcrafters create a custom gift which would definitely be saying something special about the gift recipient and the gift giver. Choosing to give Handmade gifts would also be a patriotic gift in that we are putting our money back into our own failing economy rather than funneling it overseas through Wal-Mart to china or somewhere.
What has happened to us all? What has happened to our national pride? What has happened to our once over bearing over patriotic way of thinking that was once the secret envy of numerous nations. We were infamous for our jingoistic ways and loud strident North American voices proclaiming everything that was North American was better just because it came from America and Canada.
What has happened to us all, why have we laid down our national pride, why are we trying to drive our country’s to their knees by contentedly and continually purchasing inexpensive foreign sweatshop garbage from Wal-Mart, Kmart and their cohorts? Where did our patriotism go to?
I fully realize it’s extremely challenging these days to go shopping and find gifts or general mechanize that is made in North America the stuff just isn’t there but this is a problem we have created ourselves. But when buying gifts we have other options available to us particularly if we decide we’re going to buy only handmade gifts handcrafted by North Americans here we can fight back at least a little, and the way back can all start with our gift purchasing decisions. Seems odd, but we have to start somewhere, and unlike big business the small Northern American handcrafter has not gone under yet, he’s struggling but he’s still in the fight, there still remains a variety of handmade gifts created by talented local artisans who are more than willing to enable you to fulfill your patriotic duty by purchasing a North American handmade gift handmade by them.
How many of you drive foreign manufactured vehicles, how many Canadian and American auto workers have you personally condemned to unemployment line by doing so? Do you want to see our handcrafters and handmade artisans suffer the same plight. Buy a handmade gift for someone today.
Canadian and American businesses are suffering because North Americans don’t buy items made in America and Canada. Start turning the tide and buy handmade gifts preferably from a local artisan. We must learn to appreciate the power that we are wielding when spending our hard earned dollars whether it be on gifts or everyday items. Know that by using your dollars to purchase Nationally made gifts and general goods it has a compounding effect on the US and Canadian economies ,and therefore on Canadian and American working man.(That’s your husband and mine) When you buy foreign merchandise you send our dollars overseas that money leaves our economy and helps support another country. Start turning the tide right now, give patriotic gifts, start purchasing handmade gifts for your next gift giving occasion that have been made in the US and Canada the rot has to stop somewhere, let it start with your next gift. Don’t just purchase handmade gifts of North American origin insist to your friends and loved ones that all you want to receive yourself is a handmade gift preferably handcrafted by someone local to you.
We all know where and how this all started that the North American consumer that’s you and me by the way, not some stranger in the next town or one province or state over, it is you and I that are to blame, for we just couldn’t resist the temptation of saving that extra couple of bucks on that foreign brand and so the decline started. Now we can’t afford to buy North American manufactured gifts when we occasionally come across them as they cost a little more, we’re barely making ends meet at our low income jobs, because our employers can’t compete with the cheap foreign labor of the near 3rd world places we all buy our less expensive “bargains” from, its a vicious circle and its up to us to break it and one of the easiest points to break it, is where there is still some choice of origin of our purchases, we still have that choice in handmade gifts and goods, created locally by talented local handcrafters, handmade gifts are still fairly widely available.
We can choose to buy something that hasn’t been mass produced such as a handmade gift item, that hasn’t had its price and value artificially inflated by having passed through the hands of importers, warehouses, distributors, carriers, wholesalers and then upscale retailer’s gift pricing as the inferior low quality gift items you may buy from Wal-Mart. Purchase a quality gift lovingly and pains takingly created by a local handcrafter it will be a gift you will be able to gift with patriotic pride.
It’s become a runaway train that we can’t get off of, it all appears to be beyond our control but we must find away to break free from it. We must support North American made products it’s the only way out. Start with your gift choices.
Thankfully there are a few indications that perhaps that people are realizing their mistake and trying to put it right, just small signs in little un looked for places but signs of hope none the less, and these small signs of change must be cultivated and encouraged to blossom into larger signs of change or the North American economy will keel over and die.
One of these little signs of hope is the Made in America Movement another is the Buy Handmade.org on their website there is a pledge to be made that over the Christmas holiday season you will buy only handcrafted gifts, their reason for urging you to buy handcrafted gifts is not only to support your local crafter and by doing so put money directly back into your local community it is also better for the environment as handmade gifts and goods by their very nature of being handmade gifts and goods create a much smaller impact on our environment
Have you taken the handmade pledge yet? To date (Oct 18 2008) 27,503 people have since its birth in Oct of 2007 on the Buy Handmade.org site.
Well ladies and gentlemen I’m here to tell you its not enough, just to buy a handmade gift you have to buy handmade in North America gifts, handcrafted goods that are made by local people or at least crafters residing in your own province or state.
When we Google for handmade or handcrafted gifts what websites pop up, huge displays of gifts made by foreign artisans living in third world nations, we are requested to support them via the fair trade groups and charities that import these gifts
Yes go ahead. Give a handcrafted gift, but make sure it was made in North America after all charity remember begins at home, Right?
Don’t be tempted once again, into saving that buck or two by purchasing Christmas gifts or birthday gifts from crafters located in less wealthy lands where their costs of living are much less and will never ever approach living standards of America and Canada, would you, rather than support local North American handcrafters who have (thankfully for the moment anyway) higher costs of living to maintain or would you rather save a couple of bucks and standby and watch North America go to the wall.
Don’t turn your backs on North American crafters buy Canadian or American handmade gifts for your next gift giving occasion.
Give patriotic gifts, be aware your purchases directly affect our economy, buy handmade gifts made by local people and begin to end the recession
