This past Thanksgiving weekend I was in Barcelona, Spain and although they don’t celebrate the American holiday, they had their own celebrations not too different from an American staple of the season: Black Friday.

As I walked through the shopping district of Las Ramblas, I looked through the shiny windows, 60% off, 80% off, 90% off. I realized that oddly enough, they celebrated it much better than the United States has in years.

Seriously, we look back at the craziness of the early 2010s, which shopping experts like myself deem the prime age of Black Fridays, and to see people clawing, pushing, and shoving others for flat-screen TVs, and Wiis. They seem insane, but were they really? Back then the savings were incredible, and now that I have my own money, I don’t quite blame them for throwing an elbow here or there.

Don’t get me wrong, Black Friday attacks were extreme. I just wish we could have kept the savings and toned down the passion. Now, the US Black Friday deals can be mirrored by any retail store on any weekend, not to mention the Amazons and Sheins of the world that regularly cut down their prices by huge percentages. So how did Spain keep this utopia of sales and safety? After a long search, I can honestly say, I’m not quite sure, but I think there is a deeper message behind the whole debacle.

The US has become too casual. Every holiday is all buildup and no delivery, every week we look forward to the weekends and every morning we look forward to going back to bed. If we celebrated life, like the Europeans encourage, maybe we would still camp outside of Walmart or run through the aisles of Target. Maybe a sale, big or small, would still send a spark through our hearts. Yet, here we are, casually curbside picking up new office supplies at five o’clock at night.

No glitz, no passion, no glamor. Is a bland Black Friday really the American dream our founding fathers wanted?