This video reveals some of the sickest stuff I've seen all week. (OK, it's only Tuesday, but still). It's footage taken at a suburban Dallas mall at 1 a.m., the day after Thanksgiving. The mall opened waaaay early to give Black Friday shoppers a headstart. Take a look at it. It's a vast mob of people streaming in, almost in a frenzy. To shop. Watch the video: they keep coming and coming and coming.
Can you imagine wanting to spend money so badly that you turn up at one in the morning to go to the same mall you can go to any day of the year? Can you imagine taking your little bitty kids to the mall at one in the freaking morning, like some of the parents in the video did?
For some reason, this made me think of an e-mail conversation I've been having with friends, on the subject of families who leave the TV on all the time, even when people are present trying to have a conversation. Several of us deal with that when we go visit kinfolks. One of my correspondents told of a priest friend who's had to argue with family members in the hospital, trying to get them to turn off the TV in their dying loved one's room so he could say last rites.
Save us, Rev. Billy! Git to the mall and cast the demons out of them people!
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Sig, you need your own blog, woman!
I meant that as a statement of appreciation, btw, not as a statement to go take this writing elsewhere .... just in case there was the teensiest possibility of being misunderstood.
I sincerely appreciate the Christ-like approach you take, as exemplified above.
I think the problems with rampant consumerism are:
- Credit card debt.
As someone pointed out, the average American has over $8,500 in credit card debt. That's so dangerous and foolish. If you can't afford to pay for something, you shouldn't be buying it even if it is discounted by 70%. To do so is irresponsible and short-sighted.
- The false notion that success and happiness are defined by material goods.
Of course it's fun to have electronic toys and tropical vacations and a comfortable, reliable car. It's wonderful to have bookshelves crammed with books you love. But it's a terrible pity that people see themselves as failures or feel unfairly deprived if they don't have those things. It's TERRIBLE that a child should feel shame because he doesn't have an iPod or the right athletic shoes. It's wrong that children should be raised with the idea that consumer goods define personal worth.
As for the Black Friday frenzy, every individual in that video has his own story. Some of them are probably up to their eyebrows in debt. Some are addicted to shopping and buy things to fill emotional/spiritual holes that need a different approach. But some are likely responsible consumers who plan to buy something specific, can pay for it without going into debt or dodging other responsibilities (e.g. tithing, donating to charity, and saving for the future), and are managing (in spite of having an Xbox 360 in the house) to raise children with solid values.
It seems like our culture has confused "all men are created equal" with "all men can have the same lifestyle regardless of their ability to afford it."
Mrs. Pringle
Thanks, Jim. I sure wish it were as easy to be Christ-like in deed as it is in words! : ) Reflecting on this thread has been a good wake-up call for me. We used to practice hospitality a lot more than we have since our last move to the East Coast, where people do seem to feel pretty self-sufficient. I think I need to challenge myself to stir my stumps and look harder for those opportunities to reach out, instead of waiting for them to come to me. Some of my happy memories of Christmas involve how my parents would always include other people--stray graduate students, neighbors without families, etc. They were a good example in that way.
Sig:
Agreed on your masterful blogging skills.
If not a full blog, do you have a mini-blog/journal here on Bnet? That's what I do.
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