Tis the Season...for death

Black Friday

These two words evoke so many thoughts and feelings for most. The thoughts of how early one has to wake up to get a good place in line for the 4 am opening of stores, which stores have the best deals, is it possible to divide and conquer to hit multiple stores at the same time or even how to go from store to store as they open in sequence. Some just think of it as a day to stay home, start pulling holiday decorations out of storage and eat some left-over turkey.

One thing many people don't think of, until it happens, is death.

This morning at a Wal-Mart in New York a 34 year old temporary employee was trampled to death by an unruly mob of people in order to score one of the advertised deals. While the exact cause of death has not been released, I'm positive it wasn't due to excessive kindness by customers waiting their turn to enter the store in a calm manner.

The New York Times is even reporting that the customers started pulling the doors from their hinges. Four to five other customers, including a 28 year old pregnant woman, were injured in this frenzy.

AOL usually has some sort of poll with each of their news stories. One question asked was "Does this news surprise you?" At 11:36 am PST 53,133 people had voted. 80% of those people said "No."

What is the world coming to when people aren't surprised by death during the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season? What's next, tainted turkey meat on Thanksgiving, a country-wide internet crash on Cyber Monday that includes compromised personal information? I just wonder how many people will no longer want to participate in Black Friday because they could be next.

To those customers at that Wal-Mart this morning, I hope you got your TV. I hope every time you watch it you remember you killed a man. You have frightened others by your greed and lack of ethics.

You are an American Terrorist.