Standing Watch

Mob rips open the doors and stampede over each other to get at the latest Nike offering

You would think, two days before the nation pretends to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, much of the holiday insanity would have abated, and people around the United States would show compassion, charity, and basic human decency towards one another.  This, of course, is simply wishful thinking.

In a show of mob mentallity that rivals the events of Black Friday 2011, shoppers across the nation resorted to violence over today’s release of the limited edition of Nike’s Air Jordon 11 Concord, the much hyped designer shoes that were being sold for $180 a pair.  I’ll let the following videos speak for themselves…

In Indianapolis:

In Seattle:

In Atlanta:

And in Houston:

Let us put aside the fact, for a moment, that Nike products are made in sweatshops located in countries with few, if any, workers rights, workplace safety standards, environmental protections, etc. Let us also set aside, for now, the fact that all non-management positions in these sweat shops pay a daily wage equal to (usually less than) one third of the US Federal Minimum Wage per hour.  I’m also going to set aside, for now, that the retail price for these “limited edition” shoes was approximately 1,900% higher than the it cost to make them (includes labor, materials, equipment, facilities, shipping, and promotion).

Nike clearly has a very effective advertising team, able to create a public frenzy over a pair of shoes that rivals the peak period of feeding frenzies of sharks and piranhas.

This, and the previous events from the last Black Friday I already wrote about, highlight how badly the “Holiday Season” has strayed away from the original meaning and purpose many of us were brought up to believe in.  It is no longer, as of 2011, about giving thanks for what we have, nor is it about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.  Given the mentality of many, it is definitely not about peace on earth or goodwill towards others.  The events of the past several weeks, whether in my own home, in my community, or across the United States, make clear what the “Holiday Season” has become, and has been for quite some time.  The “Holiday Season” has become an excuse to toss aside what little remains our humanity, compassion, generosity, even the basic rules of our society.  The “Holiday Season” has transformed into the ultimate expression of greed, selfishness, animosity, and a willingness to use violence, just to spend ourselves into massive debt.

Rather than honor the birth of Jesus Christ, who gave everything He could for us including His life, we choose en masse to express the very worst in ourselves, and behave in as contrary a way as we can to the teachings and examples of the one we claim to be celebrating.  I’ve heard and read all the excuses I can stomach for this mentality.  When I’ve asked people to donate time or money to help others, even a token amount, I was met with hostility.  I would be told there are too many who desperately need help this “Holiday Season” to even make a token effort just to help one or two in their own community.  Those who became disabled in the defense of our nation and are now jobless, homeless, and hungry are called “lazy bums who need to get off their asses and find a job.”  The single parent struggling to raise their child by working two minimum wage jobs is criticized for not working hard enough.  Those out of work because of the deliberate take-down of the US economy are told to find jobs that don’t exist.  God help those with serious illnesses or correctable disabilities who do not have insurance, since those people are being told to just shut up and die already.

Within my own home, one individual has played out the worst in what is going on around the country.  She has been verbally abusive and has caused damage to my personal property, because I used my last unemployment check to pay bills, rather than give it to her to go Christmas shopping with.  Keep in mind, she has also taken out numerous payday loans, direct deposit advances against her checking account, and used another household member’s debit card to make purchases totalling our combined household income for the next two months.  She purchased a gift for me as well, one paid for using someone else’s debit card without their permission, an expensive cigarette lighter.  Let us set aside for the moment that I have been very clear to everyone to not buy gifts for me, but to instead use the time and/or money that would have gone into the gifts to help others far worse off than I am.  I also have emphysema, something she knew about for months, making this one of the most inappropriate and insulting gifts of my lifetime.

Because of what she spent on gifts to impress others and buy their admiration, we will be evicted from our apartment next month.  No one rents to someone with an eviction on their credit report, which means I will end up homless in a few weeks.  Being disabled and transgender, this amounts to a death sentence for me, since the survival statistics for someone like me once they end up homeless is grim at best.

My hope is that next year, maybe people will get what Christmas was supposed to be about, and work to bring that back.