I have spent the past hour typing and
deleting, typing and deleting, struggling like mad to find the right
words to begin this piece.
We are lost, people. We are so
very, very lost. We go further adrift with each passing day, and
the ways to mark how far we have strayed are countless.
Here is another:
Just in case you are keeping track, I thought you’d like to know the score. Number of people killed on U.S. soil in 2008 terrorist attacks: zero. Number killed by holiday shoppers this past Friday: three.
The caption under the picture posted on the MSNBC Web site states, “Nassau County Police examine the front of the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y., on Friday after a worker died when a throng of eager shoppers burst through the doors and trampled him.”
I like stuff as much as the next guy. My closet is stuffed with stuff, my shelves groan with stuff, boxes full of stuff jam my garage. I like stuff just fine.
But I would not kill for it.
Black Friday deserves a mark like this.
Or, it deserves a reputation fit for the occasion.
“Day retailers get in the black.” That’s how it’s described in Business 101 terms.
“Day shoppers lose their minds” is how Intro to Crowd Psychology might define it.
Minds are lost. Feet and elbows overcome all other bodily functions. Two-thousand people stream through the mangled doors of the Valley Stream, N.Y., Wal-Mart. An employee is trampled to death.
Police say they’ll investigate and press charges. That will be some lineup.
