When Black Friday comes . . .

I think a victim of a natural disaster in a country without modern amenities, like Pakistan seen above, can be forgiven for demonstrating a measure of desperation when relief of life necessities - food, water, clothing, shelter - must come from the back of a truck or not be seen at all.  Especially if families are involved; as a mother, should disaster strike, my primary worry are my children.

I recently read the book Witness by Ruth Gruber, who was a fantastic and intrepid American journalist and photographer.  Her accounts of life in refugee camps for Jews who survived the Holocaust and their strggles to make it to Israel under threat of death are stirring.  And some of these people are holding infants or have toddlers beside them, or an elderly and inform parent.  Really, really good book - I suggest you read it for perspective when you hear about insanity like this:

Matthew Lopez went to the Wal-Mart in Porter Ranch on Thursday night for the Black Friday sale but instead was caught in a pepper-spray attack by a woman who authorities said was "competitive shopping."

Lopez said that by the time he arrived at the video games, the display had been torn down. Employees attempted to hold back the scrum of shoppers and pick up merchandise even as customers trampled the video games and DVDs strewn on the floor.

Another customer said screams erupted after about 100 people waiting in line to snag Xbox gaming consoles and Wii video games got into a shoving match.

"People started screaming, pulling and pushing each other, and then the whole area filled up with pepper spray," the Sylmar resident said. "I guess what triggered it was people started pulling the plastic off the pallets and then shoving and bombarding the display of games. It started with people pushing and screaming because they were getting shoved onto the boxes."

Nakeasha Contreras, 20, of North Hollywood, said she arrived at midnight and hadn't heard what happened. Even if she had, she said, she wouldn't have minded: "I don't care. I'm still getting my TV. I've never seen Wal-Mart so crazy, but I guess it could have been worse."

Yeah, I mean, no loss of life or serious injuries, so what's the big deal?

Me, today I am going to take advantage of a beautiful clear day and drive US 441 through the park to Cherokee, NC, where I will indulge my children and let them pick up souvenirs from the Indian reservation.  Along the way I will stop at Newfound Gap, that straddles the state line between Tennessee and North Carolina, and thank the Lord for His handiwork.  My Christmas shopping is done online - no visits to malls and I get to say hello to the USPS, UPS, and FEDEX drivers, all of whom are friendly and bring the doggies treats when they come up the hill.