Advent and the Walmart Tragedy
Last week, I was appalled to see the news item on the TV which described the trampling death of a Walmart security employee. In case you haven’t heard, a young fellow hired to do security work for the Christmas season found himself with the unenviable task of having to open the doors of the Long Island store at some ridiculously early time (4am, 5am, what’s that all about??) and was met with an onrush of shoppers who physically broke down the doors as soon as he turned the key and trampled this unfortunate person to death. The police arrived and cordoned off the entryway, and then proceeded to close the store, as it was now a crime scene. As the shoppers were being herded out, (herded is a good word for people who had acted like animals…) many complained that it ‘wasn’t fair’ that they had to leave, as they had been waiting for hours. Poor entitled persons were upset about being deprived of their right to shop, I guess.
Let’s see if I’m getting this straight. Looking for a bargain on stuff (for Christmas???) a mob creates a surge which damages the building and takes a life. Over his now-lifeless body they rush to be the first to get 60% off or whatever on a 50 big screen TV, (why pay more??) displaying absolutely no human compassion or care for the horrible thing they’ve just done. Then, being told that they can’t get their precious stuff, they complain that their rights have been trampled upon!
I’m writing this on Thursday morning, having just proclaimed the Gospel for the daily Mass in which Jesus, in the seventh chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
I’d love to interview those people who surged the door and killed that young man. I’m willing to bet that the majority of them were baptized Christians. And I’m willing to bet that a large percentage of them, having accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior as the saying goes, are positive that when they die, they will be going straight to heaven, their personal behavior notwithstanding. Hey, why bother worrying about asking forgiveness for our sins and preparing for Christmas when we can have the NFL in high-definition on a screen big enough to use as a lifeboat? Too bad about the kid, but TVs are important! Now, am I the only one who sees this as a bit ambiguous? Is greed and manslaughter doing the will of God? The utter selfishness of what happened! All this to buy Christmas gifts at a cheaper price? If they were seeking Christmas gift giving items, maybe the first item they should acquire in their shopping carts is real Christianity. Let’s all learn a lesson from this sad episode: gift giving should be a sign of charity, a mirroring of the charity that God himself showed when he sent his only beloved Son to us as a gift, which resulted in our redemption. If Christ is removed from the season, this kind of Unchristian vulgarity is inevitable. May God help us to truly honor Christ in our gift giving, by giving, and shopping, as Christians.
