What the Walmart Tragedy Reveals

I'm sure everyone has heard this tale by now, but here's the NY Times piece on it if you want to dig deeper. It was on the news in Japan too. (You have no idea how many headaches I have trying to explain the stories that come out of the US every week) A temp worker at a Walmart was trampled to death when a mob of bargain-hunters pushed through the glass doors and stampeded the store.

Much hand wringing has been done about the conscious of the American people that the quest for material goods would trump the life of a fellow human being. However, I see the Walmart story in a different light.

In the August 5 NY Times you could also read about a trampling death, but this one was at a holy site in Northern India. A fear of a landslide caused pilgrims to stampede, crushing 148 people, 50 of them children. In 2006 345 Muslim worshippers were killed in the annual Hajj pilgrimage. And 2005 saw the trampling death of nearly 1000 Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad.

In America, it seems that our religion is consumerism, our pilgrimage Black Friday, and our temple Walmart.

Tramplings occur when a large mass of people is drawn so strongly to a single geographic point that logic and self-preservation cease to register as devotion takes over. What will be gained from the pilgrimage outweighs the risk of throwing oneself into a thronging mass of people.

Worshippers going to temples seek sanctity and spiritual fulfillment. The Walmart shoppers were eyeing TVs and digital cameras. But is there really any difference?

See, whether you're lining up to pray at a temple or lining up to get a plasma TV, you're lining up for the same thing. A shot at a life that is somehow better than what you have now.

I met many people in Morocco who saw the Hajj as a kind of turning point in life. They imagined that post-pilgrimage life would somehow be easier, or more rewarding and elevated. I also met a few Hajjis, people who had completed the pilgrimage, who were frustrated with their lives and seemed just as mixed up as the rest of us.

I'm sure we've all had the same experience when buying a consumer product. We imagine that life with that new Plasma TV will be greatly improved. We'll get more out of our leisure time, be more satisfied with our entertainment options, and will be the envy of the neighborhood. So you get the plasma, and find after a few days that life is very much the same. (Personally I'm not so into TVs, I don't even own one. My consumerist fantasies trend towards Mac products, guitars, and video games. What products do you worship readers?)

Behind the death of the Walmart employee and the pilgrims is a deep-seeded dissatisfaction with what is and a mistaken belief that you can do or obtain something that will make that dissatisfaction go away. Nothing will ever make it go away. Let me say that again;

Nothing will ever make your dissatisfaction go away.

It's part of the deal when you're a sentient being. We have the gift of imagination, which can endlessly permutate situations in which you would be happier than you are now. Of course if you are lucky enough to arrive at those situations the imagination just keeps on going to deeper and more complex doodlings about what could be. (You finally got that sports car, but it can only do 0 to 60 in 10 seconds!)

This is the trap of life that was sprung on that unsuspecting Walmart employee this Black Friday, and will continue to ensnare us all until we take a serious look at ourselves and cultivate appreciation of the present moment. We think of ourselves as the cleverest of

animals but we fall for the same trick time and time again. All we can do is try to be a little less stupid tomorrow and not hurt anyone as we bungle through. Meditation helps.

And the employee who was killed was named Jdimytai Damour. He was called Jimbo by his friends, loved politics, Japanese anime, and movies. He was 34.