Before I begin, let me say the following: I own Walmart stock valued in the mid-five figures and will continue to hold them!! Today, I am ashamed of my human race!! And I will do exactly what I say I will do!! Because if I don't...and, hopefully, others will join me...then something far more basic...far more "evil"... is about to devour us which will render our concerns about this financial/economic situation, which we discuss here on a daily basis, simply besides the point!!
For those who do not follow the News or live outside of the States a little background is necessary. Last Friday morning, at a Queens, New York Walmart store, a man...just trying to make a living by working ( an attribute we all hail as a good thing )... was killed by a human mob of over 2000 fellow human beings!! Also seriously injured was a pregnant woman and her unborn child ( both she and child will survive ). This was no terrorist attack!! Nor was this a random act of violence!! It was caused by a mentality that so prevades the fabric of our society...in our business , our sports, our children's schooling, and our personal lives...that we have become immune to its effects on us as people!! The cause was, in the final analysis, this: The need to win at all costs and damn the consequences!! The saddest fact of the whole incident is that it should have been anticipated and prepared for by Walmart but they dropped the ball!! And they should be held accountable!! As should the people who knocked these people down and kept stepping on... and over... them until the breath of life was snuffed from them!! Police are scouring videotapes of the scene to identify who they can hold accountable...it will be a long and possibly unfruitful investigation!! Walmart will try to hide behind a battery of lawyers and sometime...a long. long way down the road... the victim's families will see a pittance that will do nothing to offer solace to their souls!!
Much hype is done about the day after Thanksgiving Day sales events ( Black Friday, they are called...how appropriate is that!!! ) that kick off the Christmas Holiday shopping season as retailers try to recoup partial losses or hold on to profits. Sales events are deliberately held amidst heavy advertisements with prices that are deliberately lowered on key items making a crowd a foregone conclusion...if all goes according to plan!! Then, when the crowds gather and the doors open, the shopping begins and the profits flow but at what cost to us as human beings??
I could simply write this off as an isolated event which occurred far away from my private existence and do nothing!! But as Edmond Burke said so eloquently so many moons ago, " The only thing necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing! " I believe in Goodness!! I also believe in Evil!! And I also believe in Accountabilty!! So I am acting and if you follow suit then so be it!! If not, then that is your decision and I will honor it since I have no way of knowing anyway how each who reads this decides to respond!! I am taking two actions:
1). Tomorrow morning, by registered letter, I am telling ( not asking!! ) Walmart that they dropped the ball! ( If anyone else wishes to do the same, just go to their Corporate website for their Bensonville, Arkansas headquarter's address.) Management should have been prepared!! As the crowd gathered and became unruly, management should have not opened the doors until the situation was contained by law enforcement...period!! No excuses can rationally be made!! Futhermore, I am telling them that they need to immediately contact these victims and make it right financially ( how do you calculate a human life's worth? ) without any undue resistance or legal wrangling!! Do what is right!! Not what is legal!! And I am posting this in as many places as I can and hope they will know just how angry this has made a great many people!!
2) I am imposing a boycott of one year on all Walmart business!! My girlfriend spent over $500 on gifts for our grandkids Friday that we returned on Saturday!! I simply will pay a little more to replace them but if we want their attention we need to speak...loudly...with our wallets!!
Simply doing nothing... or complaining endlessly without trying to affect change... just isn't good enough anymore!! We can take action or we can become like the characters in the book from which I titled this piece...It may not stop Evil but it sure feels good to have tried!!
