Black Friday

This year is the first time that I have joined the Black Friday horde that is in search of bargains before the sun rises. Deb and I had a good time picking up stuff down in Dayton, and generally found the crowds to be manageable and the stores well-staffed to deal with them. There were exceptions such as the Toys R Us with a 90+ minute wait to check out and a Circuit City store that had a serpentine line that I wouldn't have waited in.

This story from New York is most disturbing. What is it about Black Friday that will make people behave like animals. In the reports I have read, this man was trampled and the people trying to rescue him were also in danger. Even the police and paramedics trying to save his life had to fight off crazed shoppers.

Who is a fault? The courts will decide. Certainly the store was ill-prepared for the horde outside its doors. The people who bum-rushed the place are also at fault. I'm not sure how anyone in that mob can sleep at night knowing that in their zeal to save a few dollars they cost a man his life.

Christmas is about a gift - not the almighty pursuit of gifts. Yet somehow we have made the season into a cutthroat event that is worthy of parody in bad Arnold Schwarzenegger movies - wait that is redundant - Arnold Schwarzenegger movies yet its very real dark side can cost people their lives.

The more I see stuff like this, the more I thank God for Internet shopping. This is so disturbing at so many levels.