I am not only saddened, but outraged at the death of a fellow human being under the feet of shoppers who have flagrantly disregarded every ethically worthy moment provided within this season. He died because people could not wait to shop. He died because civility was cast into the wind. He died, and he gets, at best, a passing reference in the news, with Wal-Mart hoping to stay in control of the story. He died, and every Wal-Mart in the country should have closed, at the very least for the rest of the day, in honor of its employee. He died so that someone's vision of sugarplum ephemera could dance in some family member's head. His death makes this, truly, memorably, Black Friday. News media report that the rest of the Black Friday madness progresses without event. That is shamefully self-serving rhetoric. They have missed the event. The event comes to this: our culture believes that shopping is more important than life itself. "Buy Nothing Day" emerges as the most relevant message of this day. May the memory of the young man, who, at the moment, seems to remain nameless, haunt every Wal-Mart shopper who stood in line at 2:00 or 3:00 or 4:00am across the country. May we philosophically come to terms with what we are becoming, and may our coming to terms lead us to thoughtfulness.

Sigh. This is what greed, self-centeredness and uncontrolled consumerism has done to our society. We're no longer human beings, we've turned into herd animals, following the siren call of the newest gadgets and shiniest toys. Shame on all the thoughtless customers who killed a man in order to be the first in line to save a few dollars. And shame on greedy corporations who encourage this behavior. There's a good reason avarice is one of the Seven Deadly Sins.