You say this is Christmas

By Libby

By now you've probably heard about the Walmart employee that was trampled to death in the pre-dawn 'doorbuster special' opening on Black Friday. Some 2,000 shoppers had assembled in a frenzied mob and literally busted the doors in their haste to snag those $600 wide screen TVs. For the competition consumers, apparently nothing is more important than that bargain pricing.

“When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, ‘I’ve been on line since yesterday morning,’ ” Ms. Cribbs told The Associated Press. “They kept shopping.”

Wal-Mart security officials and the police cleared the store, swept up the shattered glass and locked the doors until 1 p.m., when it reopened to a steady stream of calmer shoppers who passed through the missing doors and battered door jambs, apparently unaware that anything had happened.

I can't remember when exactly we lost the spirit of the season to crass consumption but I've noticed it for many years now. In the one shopping trip I generally suffer through to find a few small items that I can't get on-line I've noticed the mood in the stores is more grim than festive. The checkout lines feel more like prisoners lining up for trip to death row, shackled by credit card debts that will last long after the presents have been broken or forgotten. The spirit of the season has morphed into the dispirit. It gets worse every year.

It's a sharp contrast to the holidays of my youth. I remember when gifts came from the heart and people didn't measure the success of their haul by the price tags. I recall when people would smile at the strangers in the aisles and wish them a happy holiday. Some, including me, would hum along with the ubiquitous piped in Christmas carols that didn't start playing until December. The good will towards our fellow humans and the joy of giving was palpable in those days when the media declared "must have latest items" didn't exist.

I miss those days when the spirit of Christmas meant more than the fanciest liquor you can buy. But as long as the Walmarts of the world breed the greed demons with their murderous door busting promotions, I don't suppose we'll ever really see it on a wide scale again.

Comments

[geoff]

I noticed Bush coming or going with his ding-bat wife - sorry that's unfair to her I apologise but I'm not editing it out - on the WH lawn didn't mention the poor crushed bugger on Long Island at Walmart. I haven't checked to see if Obama made a statement. I'm not sure whether to laugh uncontrollable about the poor crushed soul but I'll just feel stunned. Last time we'll heard of him or her. Those who die in wars for large screen TVs don't get their names on cenotaphs.

[Libby]

It's very sad Geoff. What kind of society have we devolved into that people are literally willing to kill for a wide screen teevee?