An American Martyr

According to the New York Daily News, a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death in Long Island when some 200 people rushed the doors as they were being opened for the post-Thanksgiving sale. I guess they don't call it Black Friday for nothing.

The mind boggles at the very notion. What is there for sale at Wal-Mart that is worth stampeding for? As another employee told the Daily News, they literally tore the door off of its hinges. God, what a way to go. Bad enough that this poor sap, who was only 34 years old, had to work as a temporary maintenance worker at Wal-Mart. In plain speech, that's a janitor. But then to die like road kill, there on the floor of the store after being run over by 200 people who were doing their best imitation of a herd of wildebeests. Sheesh! I remember this ad from TV several years back. Some retail chain, they're all so interchangeable that the names jumble in the mind, was holding a sale. In the commercial, the employees were arguing over who was going to open the door because they all knew that the one who did would get trampled under foot by the crazed shoppers waiting outside. So, what we had at that Wal-Mart was yet another case of life imitating art, though art of a base and banal sort.

Come to think of it though, what more appropriate way to go? Every faith must have its martyrs. Christianity certainly has more than a few. So, here's one for American consumerism. The name of this poor person has yet to be released, so he will have to remain nameless for now. Let's just hope there's a Wal-Mart heaven where he can dwell forever in a superstore that is so chockful of the products of Chinese industry that no one has to stampede because there's more than enough for all.