Shop 'Til You Drop????

One of my sisters, Christy, has always been a Black Friday (day-after-Thanksgiving) shopper. Big time.
I never have.

It’s not that I don’t like to shop and I certainly love great deals. But I don’t like the traffic and the crowds. Sometimes I figure the deals might get better and better as it gets closer to Christmas. Of course, the selection may dwindle and dwindle.
The dwindling selection is a risk I’ve always been able to take, so as not to have to put up with the tremendous crowds.

The news from the 2008 Black Friday, though, had me wondering about our culture, our shopping habits, society in general.
A man working at a Wal-Mart in New York was trampled to death by shopping throngs pushing through the doors. And a woman who was pregnant lost her baby through miscarriage in those crowds.
How can this be? What kinds of deals are worth this? Is this a new kind of shop-til-you-drop mindset?
We are in tough economic times. Many of us like deals whether times are difficult or not, so our tough economy makes the deals even more enticing.
Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with liking a bargain. I thrive on bargains – the two-for-one deals, the old blue light specials at K-Mart, moonlight madness, the coupon specials. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with being part of the Black Friday crowds looking for deals.
Yet this goes beyond just liking a bargain; this is not shopping for the necessities of life. People aren’t being trampled for milk or bread or water for survival.
Is this greed? Is this keeping up with the Joneses, or even getting one up on the neighbor?
Whatever it is, it’s ugly.