This story about a man getting trampled to death at a Wal-Mart yesterday morning makes me sick to my stomach. I also heard there was a pregnant woman trampled who was sent to the hospital, and that two men are dead from a shooting in a California Toys R Us.
I could understand this behavior in a third world country where life-saving food, water, or medicine were being given out. I have heard of these stampedes in the poorest parts of Asia, and they are tragic enough. But a life-ending stampede in America, where the vast majority of people don’t have any real frame of reference for neediness, and have never lacked any basic necessity? And this happens over toys, gadgets, and clothes? These actions literally say, “Get between me and cheap crap and I will kill you.”
That is just nauseating. It sadly says a lot about what the real American idol is…
Stuff.
What will it take to teach our culture that new trinkets or fashions do not fulfill like the commercials tell us they will? “If I can only get this thing, I will be happy.” What a depressing, soul-killing cycle to be caught in.
What a terrible functional savior consumerism makes.
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