A Holiday Irony
Merry Thanksgiving..I mean Happy Christmas..no no...that's still not right. You see, as of late, the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas have become nearly inseparable. In fact, we now are seeing Christmas decorations alongside Halloween candy. It's quite something when one moment you're standing in front of a huge blowup bloody skull, and right across the isle is Santa and his elves. Makes me wonder if the skull is staring out of jealousy...
The issue in this post however, is not the continual push for the "holiday" season to start earlier and earlier...it is the huge irony that just occurred this past week. Perhaps irony is too light a word, travesty, would be more fitting.
On November 26th, a day decreed by the great Abraham Lincoln, Americans celebrated Thanksgiving. A day entirely devoted to remembering our country's humble roots in it's early settlers and religious pilgrims. Many of which died for the dream of this country. They died, often out of starvation or illnesses we don't give a second thought to in today's modern age. It is an entire twenty-four hours set aside to be thankful for our blessings. To be thankful for what we have and have been given. This is not the tragedy. The real tragedy comes the next day.
On November 27th, a little before 5 AM, a 34 year old man was trampled to death at a Wal-Mart in Long Island New York. Details have not yet been released about this man but let me tell you what I imagine...
I imagine a 34 year old man, hit hard by the downturn in the economy. He takes a temporary, perhaps even second or third, job at Wal-Mart to help make ends meet. He celebrated Thanksgiving with his family, hugged his parents and kissed his wife. He played catch with his little boy and told his little girl she was his princess before he tucked them into bed that evening. Then, having hardly attained any sleep he got up at 3:30 AM to get ready and go to work for the store opening at 5. He didn't want to, but he looked at his wife and kids...and knew he had to, for them. At 4:45, the crowd outside was restless. Somehow the lot had fallen to him to open the door.. At almost 5 AM, the crowd could no longer take it. As he tried to open the door, the tore them apart, stampeded over him, and trampled him to death while his family lay sleeping.
The tragedy is that in less than five hours....five...after all of America celebrated and gave thanks for the blessings that they had..this man was needlessly murdered, by a crowd wanting more stuff. Wanting, more and more, so badly..they killed for it.
The question now is, what will it take? What will it take for the "good" people of this country to say that enough is enough. When will a group finally stop praising the almighty dollar long to say that we will not have this happen again. Some of the faith say they are waiting for the battle call. I say we've already missed it. The call came long ago, perhaps when they took prayer out of school, or when they keep trying to take commandments out of courthouses. We in the faith aren't losing because we're outnumbered. We're losing because we're not even fighting...
May God keep you, and especially the family of that young man, this night and every night
"I think the enemy is here before us.... I think the enemy is simple selfishness and compulsive greed.... I think he stole our earth from us, destroyed our wealth, and ravaged and despoiled our land. " ~Thomas Wolfe, You Can't Go Home Again, 1949
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." ~Edmund Burke
The issue in this post however, is not the continual push for the "holiday" season to start earlier and earlier...it is the huge irony that just occurred this past week. Perhaps irony is too light a word, travesty, would be more fitting.
On November 26th, a day decreed by the great Abraham Lincoln, Americans celebrated Thanksgiving. A day entirely devoted to remembering our country's humble roots in it's early settlers and religious pilgrims. Many of which died for the dream of this country. They died, often out of starvation or illnesses we don't give a second thought to in today's modern age. It is an entire twenty-four hours set aside to be thankful for our blessings. To be thankful for what we have and have been given. This is not the tragedy. The real tragedy comes the next day.
On November 27th, a little before 5 AM, a 34 year old man was trampled to death at a Wal-Mart in Long Island New York. Details have not yet been released about this man but let me tell you what I imagine...
I imagine a 34 year old man, hit hard by the downturn in the economy. He takes a temporary, perhaps even second or third, job at Wal-Mart to help make ends meet. He celebrated Thanksgiving with his family, hugged his parents and kissed his wife. He played catch with his little boy and told his little girl she was his princess before he tucked them into bed that evening. Then, having hardly attained any sleep he got up at 3:30 AM to get ready and go to work for the store opening at 5. He didn't want to, but he looked at his wife and kids...and knew he had to, for them. At 4:45, the crowd outside was restless. Somehow the lot had fallen to him to open the door.. At almost 5 AM, the crowd could no longer take it. As he tried to open the door, the tore them apart, stampeded over him, and trampled him to death while his family lay sleeping.
The tragedy is that in less than five hours....five...after all of America celebrated and gave thanks for the blessings that they had..this man was needlessly murdered, by a crowd wanting more stuff. Wanting, more and more, so badly..they killed for it.
The question now is, what will it take? What will it take for the "good" people of this country to say that enough is enough. When will a group finally stop praising the almighty dollar long to say that we will not have this happen again. Some of the faith say they are waiting for the battle call. I say we've already missed it. The call came long ago, perhaps when they took prayer out of school, or when they keep trying to take commandments out of courthouses. We in the faith aren't losing because we're outnumbered. We're losing because we're not even fighting...
May God keep you, and especially the family of that young man, this night and every night
"I think the enemy is here before us.... I think the enemy is simple selfishness and compulsive greed.... I think he stole our earth from us, destroyed our wealth, and ravaged and despoiled our land. " ~Thomas Wolfe, You Can't Go Home Again, 1949
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." ~Edmund Burke
Labels: Rant, Thanksgiving
posted by Jeffrey Lazenby | 11:33 PM
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