I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was a happy and safe one. Sadly, I must report this holiday weekend has brought a tragic and senseless end to the lives of some who partook of the so-called “Black Friday” sales events around the country. I will admit I have never attended one of these (free for all’s), and never will. Moreover, I have developed an affinity for the cyber component of shopping, as the deals seem just as good and certainly involve less aggravation. Having said all that, my wife, who was a retail executive for many years before my son was born, has done her best to explain the fascination with sleeping on a cold sidewalk at 2 AM in the hopes of purchasing a $2.00 waffle maker. (I still don’t get it). All joking aside, a grandfather died while attempting hide a video game from other ravenous shoppers and was subsequently tackled by security as a shoplifter and died of a heart attack right in front of his grandson. Another women pepper sprayed here retail opponents and fled with her X-Box. And yet another was shot dead in the parking lot of a mega-retailer for the merchandize he had just “scored”.

Aside of how sad I feel for these poor souls and their families, I think there is another dynamic many of our time are overlooking as we attempt to make sense of these tragedies. At this very moment and in some far away cave, a bunch of smelly fanatics are pointing to this lunacy and using it as a teachable moment for the militant youth before them, who are preparing to go and take the lives of the innocent to promote their twisted beliefs. They scream of the decay of American culture and the evils of our free society, and point to these very incidents as evidence. Even more alarming is that “We the People” seem numb to the reality of this “picture of America” we present to the rest of the world. In the name of a few dollars saved on a damn video game, a young boy will miss all the good times not lived with his granddad. And for only what he possessed in his arms at that very moment, an innocent family man is robbed not just of his merchandise, but of his future.

I must be honest and tell you that you will not find a bigger Capitalist when it comes to the engine that drives the most successful economic platform in the history of the world. However, when as a pretext to a holiday framed by peace, hope and love for our fellow-man, we engage in this kind of shortsighted, selfish and animal like behavior, it is definitely time that we step back and examine our national priorities. Otherwise, the rest is inconsequential at best. Wake up America!!