This is an open letter to anyone who shopped at the Long Island Wal-Mart that killed Jdimytai Damour. I hope your purchases were worth it.
An Open Letter To the Long Island Wal-Mart Shoppers on Black Friday
Shame. That’s the first word that comes to mind when I hear about the tragedy of the Valley Stream Wal-Mart. Pure, pure shame.
2,000 people trying to get into one store on Black Friday. Yet we can cry about not being able to pay our mortgage? How about paying attention?
One lone worker, Jdimytai Damour, who was a temporary laborer probably trying to make ends meet, died because 2,000 people just couldn’t wait to by something on the cheap. And we cry about having to tighten our belts? We should tighten our minds.
And of course, whether any of those people were directly responsible for Damour’s death, everyone else walked on by, kept on shopping. But we cry that the government needs to bail us out? Who bailed Damour out?
They shut the store down for a few hours to clear the scene and people complained; COMPLAINED because they waited outside for two hours just to get in. And we cry about recession? I sense a recession of priorities.
After the scene was over, Wal-Mart, obviously hurting for dollars, re-opened the store to continue pushing our capitalist society into the black. And we cry that our economy is slowing down? Who slowed down for Damour?
Why did it take me 10 articles on Google to even find out the Damour’s name? And the mainstream promises to push the facts? The fact is that it wasn’t a Wal-Mart worker who died. It was a man. A human being, working early in the morning to make ends meet. A man who’s parents, his lone family, have now outlived him.
What disappoints me the most is that odds are, 90% of those shoppers were fellow Christians. I could go on about the verses in the Bible that speak against greed, selfishness, kindness to your fellow man. There are even more verses on confession, forgiveness, and repentance. Was Damour’s death the reason for the season? How can we wish people would put “Christ” back in Christmas when we have these very acts of greed that adequately represent the “X” people use as a shortcut?
Even for Wiccans, there is “harm none”.
For the Muslims, I found this from the Koran: “Kill not your children for fear of want: We shall provide sustenance for them as well as for you. Verily the killing of them is a great sin.”
If you were there, if you continued to shop, if you went back to that store after it re-opened, if you complained about long lines following Damour’s death, take a look at your presents. Look real hard. Would they be worth the death of one of your family members? Your purchases are blood money now.
