How to ruin a holiday.

Yesterday I went out with my mother, aunt, and fiancé for a relatively intense buy enjoyable tradition that has come to be known as "black Friday shopping". This year we went to Denny's first, enjoyed a grand slam and coffee, and then went out to Wal-Mart. As with every year, it was an enormous traffic jam. My aunt and mother went about purchasing some things while Kristin and I skipped off to the least populated region of the store: the fish tanks. As usual, there weren't a ton of fish, and a lot of them were a bit sickly, but I did see a rope fish and it was awesome. Kristin, however did not agree. Less cool was the lady who hit me with her cart and then glared at me like it was my fault she ran me over. Sorry for existing lady, next time maybe I'll bring you your "queen of the universe" crown.

To be useful to the rest of the group (who were actually doing some shopping and not just loafing) I subscribed to WTHR's shopping tweet feed. (it's even useful for every-day crazy things like black friday!) About mid-morning, however, I got a tweet that kind of ruined the day: "Employee trampled and killed by crowd at Long Island Walmart". A lot of people really hate Black Friday, AdBusters even works actively against it with their "Buy Nothing Day" campaign. I'm not exactly a fan of consumerism, but I also think there are some good traditions that have come out of shopping on that day as well as family bonding time. I bought nothing in stores yesterday (because none of it was any cheaper than any other day), but I did have a chance to spend time with people I love. But here's the thing. This is supposed to be the time of the year with holiday cheer, good will, and thanks. But for one family, it became a time of mourning and loss because of people's loss of humanity. Stores and their ads have pushed black friday sales so hard that they've created this hazardous environment for their employees. Ultimately there are two parties responsible for what happened yesterday. Walmart is guilty of failing to protect it's employees and creating an environment that was not only dangerous to their health, but in this case fatal. Stores should work to protect their employees. There was no place in this 34 year old man's contract that said he would be put in this situation, no hazard pay, and when the doors opened at 5 a.m. nothing stood between him and the mob.

Guiltiest of all, however, are the American people as a whole. We've transformed the holiday buying season into a selfish, me-centered, must-buy-at-all-costs time. Your child doesn't need a tickle-me-elmo bad enough for you to put someone else's health, or even life, at risk. There is nothing worth being rude about. My (and all people) do exist in your world, so when you fail to apologize for hitting another person with your cart and then glare like their existence is inconvenient for you then you're contributing to the problem. When you hit another person, when you steal a toy out of their hand, when you sprint through the store, when you cut people off in the parking lot, when you fail to simply love your neighbor then you've ruined the holiday. The religious reason for Christmas is to celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace, the redeemer, the king and lover of the world. To do these things is not only to live in contrast to Jesus' being here, but his life and will. For the non-religious, the holiday season has been about loving each other, cocoa in front of the fire with the ones you love, being with family, and loving those who are lonely in your life. Acting like this only does the opposite by causing others to feel belittled and insignificant. Acting like the world would be better without them completely fails to recognize the spirit of the season.

So the next time you choose to shop, black friday or otherwise, remember what this holiday (and ultimately what life) are all about. Love others.