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A Bleak Black Friday

Now admittedly, I love a bargain as much as the next person. In fact, there have been times that I have been known to tell everyone that I know about it when I feel that I got an exceptional price on something. However, I have never in my life seen a sale that is worth the cost that one man paid today in New York.

Most of you I am sure heard about this – a Walmart employee when attempting to unlock the doors for the day after Thanksgiving early bird sale was trampled by the crowd of bargain hunting consumers that had been lined up outside. Breaking down the doors, they surged into the store – each one of them trampling again, or at the very least, sweeping past with no regard to the man lying helplessly on the floor. Other store employees tried to reach him to help but they too were knocked down before being able to get to him. In addition to employees, several consumers also fell – one of them was a woman who was eight months pregnant. Police and medics were called to the store and several people were taken to local hospitals including the first employee who had been trampled. Police attempted to get some control and, after learning that the employee unlocking the doors had died at the hospital, announced that the store was closing due to the death. The consumers reacted by angrily refusing to leave the sale that they had waited in line for and continued shopping.

Media reaction to this story has been fairly consistent. Each states that this is a tragedy, that it should not happened,…and that Walmart should have prevented this. I don’t know what stuns me more – the incident itself or the media’s comments. I agree that Walmart should have had extra security and a manager on hand to help assess the situation thougout the night. However, I do not believe that with the possible exception of a small percentage, Walmart is the one who should face a judge and be held liable.

One of the cornerstones of which my built upon and that my values are based on, is to take responsibility for my own actions. Another is, when able, to help someone else in need. This morning, a crowd of adults killed someone with absolutely no regard or remorse. I strongly urge the officers that are reviewing this case to bring in every person possible who walked over, on, or past the fallen employee and force them to defend themselves in front of a jury of their peers. These people should have been adult enough to have the ability to control themselves, to help their fellow man, to respect anothers life and property, and to act in an appropriate manner. I would love to hear them attempt to explain why they felt it okay to trample someone just to get to a sale.

I hope that those who were involved in that consumer rush this morning is having a real hard time sleeping about now.  And I hope that the police and the justice system take a stand and bring down every single identifiable person involved.  And maybe we will all learn that instead of trying to make a quick buck for ourselves by placing blame upon and suing corporations, that we should instead be enough of a person to realize that we are responsible for our own actions – however stupid or thoughtless they may be.

No sale is worth someone’s life.