Saturday, November 29, 2008

The Commodity of Life

Unlike Roosevelt, we can’t claim that Black Friday will be a date that goes down in infamy; in fact, unless we read some of the headlines, we might not even have noticed that an occurrence on this particular Friday should have shocked and shamed us.  Ignoring headlines or the lack thereof, the shame remains for those who simply care more for things than for people.  Acquisition of things (or the desire for things) led the pack through the doors and over the body of a man who was trampled to death in New York.  How utterly shameful!

When the shoppers/murderers were asked to leave because a man had been killed, they argued that they had stood in line since Thursday and were here to shop, refusing to leave until forced to do so.  Callus is not quite the word for these people.  Starving wild boars and sows can at least be herded.  Insensitive belligerence should be treated with the cattle prods necessary to deal with unruly livestock.

What part of sanity completely unhinges for the word ‘sale’?  What part of civilization is so ‘civilized’ that a most ‘developed’ country can suffer a stampede of greed?  How can anyone justify hanging a big screen TV on the wall if its acquisition directly led to the death of an innocent person?  Has life truly become a dispensable commodity?

God forgive us!

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