If you have a moment, please take the time to read newspaper columnist Paul Greenburg’s article commenting on the tragic death of a store worker in New York state on Black Friday:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/05/shock-of-recognition/

Please be warned that this article will prick your conscience in regards to greed, materialism, and commercialism.

“Black Friday” in the United States is the day after the American Thanksgiving holiday (which is always the 4th Thursday in November). Many, but not all, workers enjoy a holiday from work on Black Friday, and so take the occassion to shop for gifts for Christmas or other winter holidays. More people in the U.S. go to stores to shop on Black Friday than on any other day of the year. Black Friday is called by the color black because it is often the day that merchants make so many sales that they are said to go from the color red (the accounting color for a deficit) to the color black (the accounting color for a surplus).

Over time, it has become a tradition for retailers to provide unusually high discounts on their products during Black Friday, particularly during the morning. Also, it has become a tradition for stores to open at eariler and eariler hours on Black Friday: now, some stores even open at 4:00 a.m (0400).

The stores with the best sales on Black Friday are known to attract large crowds. These crowds gather close to the door in the middle of the night and then rush in as soon as the doors of the store are opened. The customers move quickly into the stores so that they can get their hands on featured products before other customers do.

Until Black Friday 2008, these events often led to minor assaults (some pushing and shoving), but nothing really serious. This past Friday, however, a large crowd of customers rushed in to a Wal Mart store on Long Island, New York, and trampled to death a worker there who was trying to save a pregnant woman from serious injury.

In the midst of this tragedy, we greatly admire the deceased worker who courageously laid his life down to help someone else. Yet, at the same time, we are greatly saddened by the callousness of a crowd which would trample someone to death in order to purchase an item at a discount price.