Yesterday, on the biggest shopping day of the year, an employee at a Long Island Wal-Mart was trampled to death when, just after the front doors were opened, the crowd of around 2000 "out of control" shoppers surged in. These same shoppers protested the store closing for several hours because an employee had been killed. One Wal-Mart worker was quoted, "How could you take a man's life to save $20 on a TV?"
I have no problem with quite a lot of the commercialization that comes with Christmas. This is the time of year that most American retail establishments live or die by; but, people that will trample someone else to death over savings on material goods? They've lost touch with why we give gifts.
I refuse to sully the spiritual underpinnings of the Christmas season by honoring the dollar to anything close to that extent.
