One of the battles that has been raging over the last few years has been the rights and wrongs of maintaining what a number of people see as the anachronistic and restrictive Sunday trading laws. As the owner of a business on
The argument has always been that there is no point in opening on a Sunday as you are simply spreading customer spending over seven days rather than six with the additional costs that that incurs. This thinking runs against what is happening in the
This December I saw for the first time real enthusiasm from shoppers wishing to shop in
There was even disagreement within the Market Traders normally a bastion of tradition as to the wisdom of remaining closed on Christmas eve, even though it “inconveniently” fell on a Sunday. They did stay closed but was that a sensible business decision given that so many of their competitors remained open? Or is that not really the point?
Have we become so obsessed with “shopping till we drop” that we’ve forgotten why Christmas and Sunday is so special and must continue to be respected?
I don’t believe that we really have; my second experience was on the Saturday before Christmas when in a farmers shed in deepest Trinity over 700 people didn’t go shopping, but instead came together to watch a traditional nativity play involving children and animals in a draughty barn. Why?
Was it a guilty conscience, the need to put “Christ back into Christmas?” or was it something deeper, a realisation of the importance of sharing something special with fellow human beings? Isn’t it at times like this that we truly value being part of a caring society?
So if we give up Sunday as an “official” day of rest what might be the consequences to our society? It’s not about more people going to Church, but about families being given an opportunity to do something together. Watch a son or daughter playing sport, sitting around a table together without the need to be somewhere, and yes even going to Church.
As always in society we have a choice, what choices will we make in 2007?
7 comments:
Jersey seems a caring society to me, just think of the support for "side by side" and other charities. There are a huge number of local charities which would all curl up and die without the support of society. We are all undeniably consumners as well.
Personally, I think God has been liberated from Sunday. People no longer see the need to approach God through a third party (the priest), or believe that God resides in a particular place. God has become accessable.
Thank-you for your comment, you're right God is accessible, however the point I was trying to make is that we as a community seem to have very little time for each other, as we attempt to keep up the mortgage repayments etc. I believe that we as a society are losing the balance between having suffient things and having time for each other. Why do we have so many drink and drug problems? Isn't this a sign that some families simply aren't communicating with each other in their headlong rush to have more things?
My point about keeping Sunday special is not so much about going to Church and God, but about giving society a space in which to breath. An opportunity to have "quality time together". Business and profit simply want more opportunity to make more money, but at what cost to society in the long term?
Hi David, I was just posting musings, it wasn't meant to be a disagreement with your post.
But in a way I do disagree - I am involved in Scouting, and Scouting only exists because a huge number of people give lots of time to it.
Sure, sections of society have problems, but overall, I think people do care about each other, do give time for each other.
As for Sunday trading, I have no thoughts about that really. I have worked Sundays previously, and it was no big thing.
Just imagine though what would happen if there was no regulation on when businesses could open. Think of the impact that that would have on scouting and the number of volunteers willing to help out.
It is because there is still time outside of work that people do still volunteer to do such great things as scouting, although from my experience the number of people volunteering in general to help out in clubs has fallen significantly. Increasingly people want to be paid if it means giving up their spare time.
David, you have not met many of the ultra committed Scout people. They would not take a job if the hours clashed with Scouting!
If businesses open for longer I don't think that people are going to work for more hours than they do now - the businesses will just have to take on more staff. They will have to pay more for the anti-social hours as well, and that might mean many businesses not bothering to open due to the increased costs, even if the law says that they can.
I know loads of people who give time up for schools, youth groups and fundraising. Lots of people are beavering away, making this Island a better place. Thank God they do. I too see glum reports from charities that they get less help each year - I think this is due more to the fact that new charities are constantly being created, and are drawing resources. Sure, Scouting could use more volunteers, but in part that is because there is so much more required from Scouting now than 30 years ago, when a group could be one person with 20 children and virtually no training or record keeping.
By the way, have you seen Charles Robertson's comment to your post on http://www.freejersey.org/?q=node/74?
Thanks local resident for your comments, it all adds to the debate which is an important one.
I've also responded to the Robertson Blog. Over simplistic in my view. Thanks for letting me know
Thanks for raising the issue!
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