What
Happened to America?
(Part Two)
Last week, I wrote a
column about a
nineteen year old
boy in Florida who
committed suicide on
the internet and
only one of the
thousands who were
watching this take
place bothered to
call the police. Oh,
and did I mention
that the young man
posted his name and
address? What a
shame.
This week I wanted
to write something
about the upcoming
holiday season and
try to be in a more
upbeat festive mood,
but things just keep
getting in my way. I
really did have good
intentions.
So what am I going
to discuss this
week?
Holiday shopping at
its worst.
The day after
Thanksgiving, up in
someplace called
Valley Stream, New
York a Wal-Mart
employee was
trampled to death by
the crowds rushing
in to buy their on
sale Christmas
items. The police
had been called to
the store at 3:30 in
the morning to help
with crowd control.
By 5:30 am the crowd
was out of control
and had become what
one observer called
a ‘rabble’. Wal-Mart
workers tried to
calm the crowd down
but had no success.
The glass to the
doors shattered from
the force of the
2,000 customers and
as the mob made its
way into the
building, one 34
year old Wal-Mart
worker was crushed
to death as the
‘holiday’ crowd
rushed over him.
Four other people,
including one
pregnant woman were
injured and taken to
a local hospital.
No wonder other
parts of the world
have a low opinion
of our country.
I’ve read reports
where people in some
parts of the world
are living on less
than a dollar a day.
What do you think
goes on in their
minds when they read
that Americans are
stampeding over each
other to buy flat
screen televisions
and other Christmas
presents while they
were on sale. The
people in other
countries are
fighting over each
other for food and a
chance to survive,
not game boys, cd’s,
tank tops and tennis
shoes.
To add insult to
injury, when the
police arrived and
wanted to close the
store since it was a
crime scene, many of
the customers
refused to leave and
told the officers
they weren’t going
until they had
finished shopping
because they stood
in line for so long
and didn’t think it
was fair to make
them leave.
I’ll bet the dead
guy didn’t think it
was fair either.
I have been
fortunate to have
never been in a
crowd as wild as
this appeared to be,
but I can tell you
that if I were to
enter a store or
anywhere else for
that matter and felt
myself walking over
a body, I do believe
I would be aware of
it and would want to
either help or get
some help for
whoever was laying
on the ground. How
could you not notice
that you were or had
been stepping on
another human body?
Are Christmas gifts
so important that
people need to wait
outside of some
building for hours
on end and then
participate in the
unnecessary murder
of a store worker? I
don’t know about
you, but if I had
been there, I think
I would have wanted
to go on home and
call it a day and
forget the shopping
until some other
time. No gift I have
ever bought is worth
someone’s life.
Come to think of it,
the best gifts I
have even been given
have been simple,
even homemade, not
some expensive
do-dad that was the
hottest thing on the
market that year.
Perhaps we need to
step back and look
at the real reason
we even celebrate
this time of the
year. It isn’t about
the gifts or what
they mean, it’s
about relationships.
It’s telling our
friends and family
that we are thinking
of them and that we
love them. Why do we
send Christmas cards
in the first place?
Because it’s simply
to let people know
that even though we
haven’t talked to
them for a year or
so, we still
consider them to be
our friends.
It certainly isn’t
about a gift on sale
at some store where
you have to stand in
line for hours and
then some poor
unsuspecting clerk
gets killed while
trying to do his
job. The people who
find nothing wrong
with their behavior
should not be called
shoppers, they
should be called
savages.
They don’t deserve
Christmas.
