At three in the morning at Old Navy in Amarillo, people literally ripped the doors off the hinges to get into the store. A few hours earlier down the street, people filled the parking lot of Toys R Us and the adjacent parking lot of Pier 1 before the doors opened at midnight. Some waited two hours after Target opened to get into the store and get their Christmas shopping done.
During the wee hours of Black Friday, I was asleep, like sane people should be. The frenzy and fury of people who go shopping on this day make me wonder how much mass culture has degraded. Why do people feel the need to rip doors off of Old Navy for five dollar fleece pullovers? Sure, to get all the Christmas shopping done for the family, but honestly, most people don’t even like their families that much. This insanity is a recent trend; not until about five or six years ago did people go completely crazy, risking life and limb for cheap gifts.
Honestly, I believe people get what they pay for. There’s a reason stores are selling certain electronics and clothes at rock bottom prices. It’s not because they want people to get the best deals. If stores wanted that, they would sell their best products at low prices instead of the products they simply want to get rid of. Cheap electronics usually don’t last as long as more high dollar ones. Sure, there are exceptions to the rules, but not when it comes to a lot of the things stores sell on Black Friday.
The materialism of American culture is to blame, perpetrating the idea that the more people buy their families for Christmas, the more they love them. Commercials encourage kids to ask their parents for numerous toys and games, saying they deserve these things because “Christmas is all about getting what you want.”
People should return to the true meaning of Christmas and make it a season of giving instead of receiving.