Greed And Envy (a.k.a. these are a few of my favorite sins...)

On Black Friday, a Wal*Mart employee was trampled by indifferent shoppers greedily looking for cheap electronics. With this disturbing display of human nature, I wanted to mirror a post I made on another blog. The original article from the NYT click here.

"It seemed fitting then, in a tragic way, that the holiday season began with violence fueled by desperation; with a mob making a frantic reach for things they wanted badly, knowing they might go home empty-handed."

I think the idea that the event might have been fueled by our "spend more" programming or the possibility of "leaving empty handed" takes away from the real issue which is much deeper. Part of the human condition is having certain vices - in this case greed and envy. This is not the case of mom trying to get a Tickle Me Elmo for her 5 year old to make his Christmas special. These are mostly adults buying "presents" for themselves or their households. They should be able to deal with the possibility of "leaving empty handed" because if the parenting had been in place when they were young, they would have been taught another crucial life lesson -disappointment.

When I was a kid I wanted an Atari 2600. My dad waited forthe last minute to buy it and as a result I received a few little gifts and a card from mom and dad with money for my 2600. Every kid knows if you don't get the electronics on Christmas day, retailers usualy have low stock until February or so. You know what? I learned to wait. I learned that life doesn't work out the way you want, sometimes it's nice that at least someone tried and that the thought DOES count.

There is no personal accountability or responsibility in the conscious of the average American. Forget civil duty, we lack basic morality. I find it incredible that a nation that claims "In God We Trust" ignores the teachings of the same. Perhaps we should say "in my neighbor I covet" since to me the basic cause of this employee getting crushed was Bob wanting to show off his new TV to Larry over the game on Sunday.

Don't get me wrong, once Wal Mart managers noticed so many people outside, cops should have been contacted for riot control. That's just smart business. But the problem here is the human heart. One only has to read Lord of the Flies to remember that we are capable of pure evil.

"'Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!'"
- William Golding, Lord of the Flies, Ch. 9