The big thing around here this weekend, is this poor guy who got trampled too death at WalMart recently by Holiday Shoppers. I don’t know how many emails I have received on this in the past 72 hours.
Being as it is a slow weekend, and I have not been mauled recently or had my bones picked over like carrion lying on the floor of Death Valley, I will take the shot. This deadly holiday shoppin is getting out of hand ladies, someone needs to cool it. When people are actually dying for a cheap pair of shoes in America, it is time to draw the line.
The name for this apparently deadly rite of fall ritual in America, is known as “Black Friday” which is the day after the day before and someone evidently is going to die. And they think that deer hunting in Wisconsin is bad news?
Women desperate for a sale, will buy anything. I remember one year, Cup Cake came home with an escalator! Another year she shows up with a jock strap! I kid you not. So I say, “What the hell are we going to do with that.” She smiles and says, “it was on sale. I will figure something out.” Today it is in our kitchen, she uses it to store garlic balls!
Bad shopper, bad, bad, shopper.
God Bless America — A thirty-something woman is never slender enough, a credit limit is never fat enough. Yesterday in a frenzy to load up on more stuff, a temporary worker at WalMart was thrown to the floor and then literally trampled too death. Have we sunk this low in our quest for even more made in China junk?
Evidently so.
So what are the effects of over-consumption for many years? The more you have the more you want, which of course leads to unhappiness and insecurity often initiated in the quest for wealth. I recently read a study on this. It mainly dealt with kids, in these three studies with adolescents, they showed that those with aspirations for wealth and fame were more depressed and had lower self-esteem than peers whose aspirations centered on self-acceptance, family and friends, and community feeling.
“The wealth seekers also had a higher incidence of headaches, stomach-aches and runny noses, people with extrinsic goals sharpen their egos to conquer the “outer space’ around them, but they don’t have a clue how to navigate inner space.”
Too Much Stuff.
We lose control of our own lives when we surrender long-term wealth (like the natural systems that support us and literally ground us) in exchange for short-term bargains (like cheap socks and burgers). Certainly, it can’t be denied that as a percentage of income, we have the cheapest (and fastest) food in the world. But we also have the most expensive health care.
What’s the connection?
The painful truth is it’s very expensive to treat a feverish lifestyle that tears up the environment, creates chronic stress, and invents strange new forms of food. Because of our culture’s frantic, conveyor-belt consumption, we spend more for garbage bags than 90 of the world’s countries spend for everything! (it’s normal for us to buy a wastebasket and carry it home in a plastic bag, then take the basket out of the bag, and put the bag in the basket.)
Seventy percent of Americans visit malls each week, more than attend houses of worship.
Each year more than a million Americans file for personal bankruptcy – more than graduate from college. We spend more on shoes, jewelry, and watches ($80 billion) than on higher education ($65 billion). We can do so much better, if we redistribute our wealth.
Here’s the dilemma: Even in hard times, we’ve programmed our economy for surplus rather than sufficiency. We produce more than we need. One of the greatest underlying stresses we’re feeling is “How can we possibly consume all this stuff?” But every time that thought crosses our minds, a mental game-show buzzer sounds and the program takes over, instructing us to “keep eating, keep shopping.”
The truth is, maybe we just can’t eat anymore. Truth is, maybe we just have too much stuff.
Well, I would like to stay and chat some more girl, but like I said, “I need to get to my leaf blower that is tucked wayyyyyyyyyyyy back in a corner of the garage, buried under all my stuff.”
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Come on Don, don’t just blame the women. You see as many males waiting in line for early openings or pushing people out of the way. here’s a link to the Huff.Post site.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/29/police-seeking-walmart-sh_n_147069.html
Then there was the shooting at a Toys R Us, where 2 guys shot and killed one another, after the women they were with got in to a shouting match and then a fist fight…
I agree with you though, we all have too much stuff. I prefer to do my shopping on line, which makes me less likely to buy extra stuff but I’ll probably never use some of the stuff I’ve already bought. I’m an ancient 64 ;~) and I remember growing up how getting a radio was a big thing. Now there’s so much stuff available. Here’s a link to George Carlin, the man who said it best about “STUFF!”
(Maybe you’ll highlight the 2 links for me Don?)
BTW-If you’ve not been over on Helen&Margaret’s blog lately, keep your head low. The trolls have discovered it, and are getting really out of hand. I think she or Matthew should do some editing, and just not post some of the attacks.
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Okay, I knew I would take some heat for the piece, and that is alright. But women are traditionally the “shoppers” in most households. Very few men actually shop, I don’t, I research it, find the best price, go get it, bring it home. Done. I don’t shop.
Yesterday I understand that the “local Toys R Us” outlet had some problems with people cutting into line and some open aggression issues. Why people willingly subject themselves to this unfriendly type of behavior is beyond me.
Old Man Penny (J.C. Penny) would roll over in his grave if he saw this.
But I have to admit, I was unaware of the “men in the crowd” and I stand corrected. The links can stand, they are okay. Carlin is good, the man had a lot of insight into everyday life, some of his language I find inappropriate however. And there were times toward the end, it was not comedy, but more of a rant.
I have not commented on M&H in quite sometime. There is a reason for it, and I guess it is best I keep it to myself. It appears to me that the site is kind of imploding on itself, degenerating into some kind of moral pit of despair, but that is just me.
And you are dead right about the “editing of it.” In all fairness to Mathew, with the volume of comments that they have, that is a daunting task in itself (not saying it could not be done mind you) and I don’t see it happening. It was the #1 wordpress post for the day today. They have a following, I will admit that.
I continue to edit this and keep it within the parameters of sane behavior and/or reason. It is moderated and will continue to be a fun place, not a place where fun comes to die.
This morning I wrote a piece on this very subject (“I Dont Get It” will run it Monday), it addresses websites that are self destructing, email critic’s and sites on the net that are generally speaking going down hill because of hate speech and/or vitriol.
May run that Monday, wanted to do this WalMart piece because of the volume of mail on it and it is “current news” sort of speaking.
Thoroughly enjoyed your comment sister, and I am glad you stopped by. Please take my picture down off the dart board now, I didn’t mean anything personal about it. I LIKE WOMEN … I AM MARRIED TO ONE.
She will leave the house and say to me, “I go shop till I drop!” and I of course tell her, “remember the 16 digit number on your credit card? That is your identification number honey, it is NOT your limit.”
Have a great weekend.
Comment by Mstate — November 29, 2008 @ 12:53 PM
I didn’t take your comments personally. I just felt the guys should take their hit too. When I do shop with my husband, whether it’s at a mall,Home Depot, Wal-Mart, CostCo or a supermarket, he’s usually the one doing all the browsing. I just want to get in and out.
We had Thanksgiving dinner at my cousin’s house. Her 15 year old son was bugging her to call his friend’s parents to get approval for them to go out after dinner. Well it turns out that they planned to camp out in front of a Best Buy, starting around midnight for a 5 AM opening. My cousin wasn’t aware that this was the plan until 10 of us sat down for dinner but her husband did know what the son wanted to do and it was OK with him. I could tell that she was not happy about the situation, especially after her 15 yr. old said, “What are you stupid Mom? Haven’t you been listening to what I’ve been saying all day?” Had he been my son, I would have smacked him upside the head and my husband would have grounded the kid. In the end the 15 yr. old got his way, just so he could aquire more stuff-and that’s one family that does not need any more stuff!
You have a good weekend too.
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It all starts in the home, all of it. Unruly children are a direct result of “lazy parents” and that is how I see it. It is kind of like owning a dog, do you own the dog, or does the dog own you? If I was ever to refer to my mother as stupid, I would have been shown the back of my fathers hand, immediately.
As for stuff? Our lives are full of things. Disposable distractions. Stuff you buy but do not cherish, own yet never love. Thrown away in weeks rather than passed down for generations.
Perhaps it will be different now. As money and credit dries up, so will purchasing power. Wiser choices made with greater care. After all, if the fewer things you own always excite you, would you really miss the many that never could?
Comment by Mstate — November 29, 2008 @ 3:57 PM
Wow I had no idea how violent “Black Friday” actually got. I am definitely glad I stayed home, save for to go get some food, as this little chickie can’t cook to save her butt, wel at least when she doesn’t stock the groceries up prior to the holiday. It makes me sad to hear that there were shootings and fist fights at Toys R Us of all places! It’s a aterribly sad state of affairs, especially, as i am going to venture that all involved were likely to be parents.
I also like how you commented in this post about the isue of too much stuff.
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Now here is something to mull around. If they get this crazy over material things, think how critical it will get when the issue at hand is food. When they run out of food, think about how nuts it will get. That don’t put a shiver up your spine, nothing will.
Comment by tattoogirl13 — November 29, 2008 @ 4:16 PM
Hi, Don,
I have never been shopping on Black Friday and the only way I’d do so is if they were giving stuff away or paying me to be there! LOL But wait, that would mean there would be even more people there, so – never mind! Never have been into large crowds of crazy people!
I fdound your blog from pposts you had made on M&H, but I agree, there is now far too much hate, venom and vitriol to suit me.
Love your blog, will keep coming back,
Judy
Comment by Judy in CA — November 29, 2008 @ 11:19 PM