 "Photo: Contributed Photo")
For many Americans, the Friday after Thanksgiving is filled with the excitement of the start of the holiday season. Refrigerators are full with leftovers, and holiday music and decorations can now be enjoyed in a socially acceptable manner. However, this past Black Friday severely compromised this holiday cheer as the insatiable consumer appetite of more than 2,000 eager and ravenous Wal-Mart shoppers led to the death of a 34-year-old man.
With a failing economy, droves of Americans lined up during ungodly hours of the morning to reap the benefits of the latest discounts on home appliances, electronics and other items deemed necessary for those special someones on shopping lists. Stampedes of men and women frantically entered stores on their quest for gifts; yet, things turned horribly awry when some Long Island shoppers trampled and killed Wal-Mart temp Jdimytai Damour and injured several others, including a pregnant woman.
While no one could have anticipated Damour's death, it remains a rather tragic and poignant example that depicts just how far Americans will go in the search for more "stuff," even placing goods before a human life.
The 4 a.m. shopping lines remain unquestioned and considered normal, and are only reinforced and tolerated by the sense of immediacy fabricated by big business. During the shopping days from Friday through Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, total spending was $41 billion and each shopper spent an average 7.2 percent more than last year, according to the National Retail Federation. Yet, economists speculate that this retail success will drop sharply during the coming weeks.
Coupled with fear over a devalued economy, individuals are fearful that their paychecks will not stretch as far this shopping season. New York Times columnist Peter S. Goodman said it best in a recent column: "They [shoppers] were engaging in early-morning shopping as contact sport. American business has long excelled at creating a sense of shortage amid abundance, an anxiety that one must act now or miss out."
The current economic crisis is making people come to terms with the loss of their jobs, a reduced number of hours within the workweek and scaling back on certain luxuries. Americans may be faced with – gasp! – spending, buying and receiving less this winter.
While people were making a statement by rushing the doors of Wal-Mart, comparable energies were put toward Buy Nothing Day. This counter movement to Black Friday is an international effort to engage individuals to show more enthusiasm for non-consumer practices, including a return to nature and to emphasize a reduction of the use of natural resources.
While this mindset may be a nightmare for capitalist economists, this year's habits may force people to reevaluate the true meaning of Christmas, Chanukah and other holiday traditions. It should not take the death of a wage-laborer, who was just as financially desperate at those eager shoppers, to realize that the holidays should not involve frenzy over buying things, but rather spent spending time with loved ones or participating in activities that are truly enjoyed.
Knitting scarves or making cookies may not be a first choice for a holiday gift fix, but Americans need to get their priorities straight during this season, which stresses charity and selflessness, and, perhaps, put them on track for a more insightful, less consumer-minded outlook in the new year.
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