So Much for the Spirit of the Holidays
HMR November 29th, 2008
I can’t stop thinking about Jdimytai Damour and how incredibly callous people were in the moments before and after his death. The 34-year-old worker from a temporary agency was killed Friday morning by a hoard of selfish consumers that ran him down in their rush to take in the bargains at a New York WalMart. Witness reports say that not only did these people stream past his lifeless body to get on with their shopping while rescue workers tried in vain to save Damour, but that customers also complained about having to leave when management decided to close the store. A man had died because of people’s lust for shopping, and some people were apparently more concerned about whether they were going to be able to pick up a new plasma TV for less than $1000. A man died! What is wrong with you people?
Times are tough. A lot of people have lost their jobs and more losses are likely on the horizon. Many people have overextended themselves by maxing out credit cards with no real means to pay them off, yet there are still people willing to line up outside of a store, hours before it opens, to get a deal on something they don’t need (they can’t eat it, wear it to keep warm, shelter their children with it, etc.). How is any of that in the spirit of the upcoming holiday season (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, et al.)? How is it in the spirit of the season to shove people out of the way to get the latest piece of plastic crap, built in a factory far away where labor laws are non-existent and the worker who made it is struggling to buy things that they actually need?
I know that what I’m about to suggest will likely do nothing to spur the economy (neither will buying underpriced products from WalMart), but I’d like to make some suggestions for gifts for this holiday season.
- Make a gift or do something nice for someone you care about. If you don’t care about them that much then why are you fighting crowds at stores to spend money on them?
- Give to a local organization within your own community such as a food-bank or crisis shelter. Those places are hurting a lot in these tough economic times. If you don’t have the money, give your time.
- Give to an international agency such as Plan Canada (there’s a U.S. branch as well) that allows you to choose between buying such things as an education for two women in Rwanda or livestock for families in Bangladesh. You can have a card sent to your loved ones saying that you’ve made a donation in their name.
If a few of those people at WalMart yesterday morning had done one of the things that I listed above or had at least slowed down and shown common courtesy instead of pushing through the store’s doors, Jdimytai Damour might still be alive. Just something to think about while your making your list and checking it twice.
I whole heartedly agree. I am so sorry this happened and it makes me nauseous to think of it. For years our Christmas’s have been low key–not because we don’t enjoy the spirit of giving, but because we realize how very lucky we are, and that material things are not what satisfies the heart. We find immense pleasure in shopping for needy kids and making donations instead. I also have fervently avoided shopping centers that benefit form foreign cheap labor, and I hate to say it, but it is not just the Wal Marts. Yes, by boycotting these stores I guess I am contributing to the economic problem in the U.S., but gosh darn it I just cannot justify shopping in stores where the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Here’s to home-made treats that cost very little for Christmas! Great suggestions you have made to have a wonderful holiday.
It is truly sickening. A friend of mine who manages a department store locally has begun planning with other retaliers in their complex to design waiting lines and systems to make sure the morning rush is orderly. I am sure the management at Walmart never dreamed people in a group would be calloused enought to stampede one of their own to death. Personally I hate shopping and am notoriously cheap and repackage unwanted things around my house. It is sickening that people complained about having to leave the store when it was closed for the investigation.