Nov30
What is Important?
On a cool day near Venice Beach on the advent of spring I discovered this woman near the back parking lot when I dashed in to get my morning coffee fix before attending a conference. The disenfranchised and poor will always be among us, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t react.
Sometimes, I wonder about my accumulation of “earthly goods.” I like “stuff.” I consider myself to be somewhat frugal, but in reality I know that I surround myself with creature comforts. What is appalling to me is the lengths that people go to acquire material goods.
Don’t get me wrong – I love a bargain. However, I’m not about to get up and stand in line at a store at 5:00 a.m. in a crowd to get one. Are people so blindsided by “stuff” that they ignore fellow humans and trample them to get “stuff?”
Just another reason why I loathe the holidays and wonder about the survival of the human race…
Happy Holidays?
While I have done the crazy early morning shopping in the past…I couldn’t do it this year. After reading this, I don’t know that I could ever do it again. It amazes me how people can physically injure someone to the point of death for a “thing”.
That was so horrible about the man being trampled. There were also a couple of shootings somewhere. Shopping is the least pleasurable part of Christmas. I would enjoy the holidays more if there weren’t gifts involved!
No ‘thing’ in the world is worth that much to me. My son and I were talking about this story also and we were both shocked. What’s wrong with people? What were they thinking? The frantic level of frenzied greed is appalling and just plain sad.
My current move is really making me evaluate my own “stuff” and frankly, I’ll have much less of it at the end of the process. It’s amazing all the crap you accumulate when you live in the same place for a while. And how much of it do I really need? Well… the stuff I brought with me to my temporary digs fit comfortably in my car with room to spare. I should just get rid of the rest!
I have to agree with you, it is amazing the hoops people will jump through just for a “bargain.” I admit my Mom and went to JoAnne Fabrics for their fabric sale, which worked out well for W.W. and a couple new sets of PJs but we weren’t up for much more beyond that.
That was a mean thing to happen to anyone, the poor man. To think just to save a few dollars in the purchases a life was lost?