Greed

by D.O.

As an employee of a retail company, it was inevitable that I would be working on Black Friday (known in some circles as Buy Nothing Day.) In the midst of countless laps from the floor to the warehouse retrieving size x or x.5 in a million shoes for various customers, I heard about the Walmart employee who was literally trampled to death earlier that very day by a mob of people looking to save some coin.

Upon returning home I looked up an article on the matter and was more disgusted (if it were possible) than before. I asked myself, “How the hell can a group of people be so impatient and self-absorbed as to knock a door off its hinges, trap the employee attempting to open it beneath the fallen door, and proceed to crush him to death?”

The answer I came up with was Greed.

We are a greedy, greedy people.

How telling of our culture is it for something like this to even be a possibility? For it to take “several minutes” to clear the sea of people from the area where the man had fallen? How much money were those deal-getters going to save that they thought stepping on another human was worth it? How satisfied are they going to feel when they watch their loved ones unwrap that “steal” on Christmas morning, knowing that the price paid for that toy/flat screen/gps/digital camera was the life of another human being?

Unbelievable.

Promptly after spending a while meditating on the Greed that literally fuels our nation, I was drawn to the reality that Jesus alone is the solution. We need Him. And not just like we need toilet paper when when there are only a few squares left. No. We need Him like we need air.

Oh that this Advent would be spent in deep reflection of the miracle that is the Coming of the Christ; not pursuing with wreckless abandon things that moth and rust will surely destroy.