… I was in a hurry … didn’t see him … I’d been waiting in line since yesterday … but are any of these justification for taking a man’s life? Hardly. There are a lot of things worth dying over; bargain shopping isn’t one of them. But it was in the name of more stuff for less money that Wal-Mart employee Jdimytai Damour was killed by a stampede of lustful bargain hunters on what has been termed Black Friday, an ironically appropriate name in this case. As much as my heart warms at the thought of celebrating another Christmas, it is saddened by the death of this man, and by the slow death of the true spirit of Christmas in America. This is more than a "Keep Christ in Christmas!" cry from the local religious wing nut. It is a cry to consider what we have become and how we can change the face of Christmas celebrations in our country. Even in an economic slump one consumer stated “It’s our life. We cannot die because the economy is down.” I wonder if she realizes that she just equated buying gifts with life. If that is our life then we have sold out to something far below the vision that God has for us. The degradation of our Christmas traditions is encapsulated by the marketing madness of Black Friday and the gross consumerism it evokes, and it must change. But how? It is too late to be proactive, but reactive measures are very much in order. The church must begin to be the trend setters for the way Christ's birth in celebrated. Will we be brave enough to be counter-cultural, to buy less, and love more, to generate new traditions based on relationships, not stuff? There are so many ways to go against the consumerist flow and contribute to needs that represent the heart of God in the process. Did you know you can buy a goat for an impoverished family in another country? You can contribute to the building of a well for a village where people die frequently for lack of clean water. And you can spend the time that you would have shopped for stuff your loved ones don’t actually need and spend it with them instead. React against this sad death; bring joyful life back to the Christmas celebration. See www.adventconspiracy.org, www.musthavegifts.org, and www.rethinkingchristmas.org for more creative gift alternatives, and be brave enough to be counter-cultural. Also, perhaps you see fit to contact Wal-Mart and let them know how disgusted you are that they had inadequate security, and re-opened the store only hours after Mr. Damour’s death. (http://walmartstores.com/contactus/feedback.aspx)
702 SW 8th Street
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611
“All it takes for evil to prevail is the good (wo)men do nothing” … do something.
3 comments:
As I was reading this I became disqusted on how christmas has turned into something so materialistic and has pushed the true meaning right out of the way.
I discovered about a year ago (the hard way) that christmas really was about our lord and savior, friends and family.
I had a horrible turn of events happen and was faced with the realization that one of my very own family memebers might not be home with us for the christmas, I pray and prayed and prayed.
When my mother approched me and asked me what I wanted for christmas I looked at her through tears and simply replied "my whole family"
Well I continued to pray and three days before christmas god gave me the BEST gift I could ever have......my WHOLE FAMILY.
We sat around the table for christmas dinner like every year and as we bowed our heads to pray I thanked god for my family and the GIFTS in my life, for his son giving his life so that I might be free, for him hearing my prayer and granting it even when he probably had bigger things to deal with.
My lord and savior and my family and friends are what it's about, but your right CHRIST has been taken out of CHRISTmas, but it was that moment he gave me the gift he gave me that I put the CHRIST back in christmas.
Sorry thought I'd share, my love to you all this holiday season!
Jessyca
robby, i'm so thankful for you and how you help bring a right perspective to so many issues. thank you for writing about this and challenging us.
i'm excited about the christmas family's christmas project!
Thanks for this, Rob. I was at Best Buy with my mother on black friday and overheard a conversation in which a lady literally said "i don't know how people LIVE without HDTV." Maybe its because i don't really watch that much tv, but seriously? what is the big deal? and does she know that the vast majority of the world has never even seen a tv (and many of them are more content than people with half-a-dozen of them in their houses will ever be)? needless to say, i nearly had a meltdown.
this christmas i've decided to skip out on buying gifts altogether. instead i'm making granola for my friends and family and donating what i would have spent to the smile train (to pay for one precious child to have his/her cleft palate repaired). it's pretty liberating so far. i'm just sort of saying no to the pressures of christmas consumerism.
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