Human Nature and The Meaning of Christmas

Some say, mistakenly, that Christmas is a time that brings out the very best in us. After all we have the chance to drop change in a bucket outside of all the mega-stores. We send cards of joy and love to people we care about and to some that we really do not care about at all. We eat, spend time with family and friends and give gifts.

It sounds wonderful, as children we actually believed it was wonderful - perhaps ultimately that is part of the root of the problem. I will not go into a long rant about the meaning of Christmas and all that because truth be told - in our day and time Christmas is about the economy stupid. To corporate America it is all about retail sales during the ever increasing period of time from Halloween to New Years. (and I will not talk about the annoying fact that each year that retail season seems to expand just a little bit more).

My wife wants a new laptop, so being a thrifty sort of guy I pointed out that one could be had at an after Thanksgiving sell for $250. I was perfectly willing to venture out at 12 midnight on friday after thanksgiving to procure this inexpensive device. I have never done anything like that and I thought the idea seemed appealing - a little exciting. It was something atypical for me, a chance to experience something new, see something new and in the end get a cheap laptop.

We stood in line for three hours, shivering and hugging for warmth. It seemed that for two hours and fifty minutes of my wait everyone remembered the simple lessons we all learned in kindergarten about forming a line and staying in line. Ten minutes prior to the store opening almost everyone forgot those lessons. I witnessed people exiting their warm cars and rushing to the door, erasing any remnant of the orderly line that had previously formed.

At this point, my blood pressure rose a bit. After all, I had arrived early, stood in the cold and was willing to take my chances on actually getting a laptop with those that had arrived before me. I did not at all like the idea of people arriving late, or worse, sitting in warm cars and then breaking in line.

I cooled myself with the thought that this was a wonderful opportunity to observe human nature and use it as opportunity to discuss with my wife my theory about the future of our land.

Once the store employees opened the door things were just as you probably imagine that they were going to be at this point in this little story - bedlam. Grown people running through a store, pushing, shoving, etc. etc. I arrived at the counter that was distributing the laptops sometime after the initial rush. I was distracted along the way watching parts and pieces of the mob peel off to converge on various "bargains" along the way. I suppose people had an idea of what they came for and they were not going to allow something as silly as civility to get in the way at that point. I also refused to run, in a store, for any reason other than life or limb. To my surprise I found that when I asked the girl behind the counter for one of the laptops she said "yes sir, we have one left" smiling and handing me the box.

I was further surprised when a woman behind me reached over me and grabbed it out of my hand. That is right, she literally came over my back and grabbed it.

I have a lot of PTSD issues I have worked on in various ways over the years. I am not ashamed to admit that I have had nightmares, that I have on occasion stopped dead in my steps at a sight, sound or smell. I have worked though most things and am left simply with what I think any normal man should be left with after seeing the worst of the human condition too many times. One thing I have never been able to get rid of is a powerful fight or flight response when I am startled or my personal space is invaded too quickly. My wife never startles me anymore, we have just adjusted to that.

This woman, coming over my back like that startled me. It was God in heaven that prevented me from laying her out on the floor. All of the physiological reactions took place, but thank goodness when I spun around I was able to quell the impulse.

There is of course, a much larger issue here. That woman doing that to me was just one of probably thousands of such instances across the country. I know I witnessed several other such events that very morning in that very store. I could not help but think to myself "what if these people were hungry". After all, if people are so willing to abandon civility over a silly electronic device what would they do if they were hungry.

Christmas is all about retail sales and materialism it seems and my little foray into the shopping world only served to remind me of just how far we have fallen. It is a sad state of affairs.