Pathetic.

Day in and day out we all take things for granted, it is part of human nature it seems or at least it seems that we have allowed it to become this way. Those of us that reside in wealthy nations do it all the time in one form or another. How many times do we stop and think about how great we have it and how many don’t? I know personally we attempt to as much as we can and do what we can but it is not enough.

Our time in history is one of the most affluent, especially here in the west. We are feeling the pinch of a financial downfall at the moment but nothing close to the 30’s or the hardships felt in third world nations each day.

We (North America) have been involved in a war in the Middle East for many years. It has provided some success, although it may have been started for various reasons and through some lies, it still produced some positive outcomes. But the numbers of fallen soldiers and innocent victims is nowhere near any of the world wars. Added to that the socioeconomic times we have are far greater then those who preceded us.

We over eat and drink while others fetch water from a well and must eat food we would turn in disgust from. We have more objects and items for entertainment than necessity while others have shelter and nothing more. We have more clothing and footwear for every activity and outing while others don’t even own one pair of shoes.

"I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."
~Chuck Paulinick~

In a round about way the quote states that we have it all but we waste it chasing things we don't need. Oh I know we all know this and that I am pointing out obvious examples but it will all be forgotten in a few minutes once we distract ourselves. Last week I followed the Mumbai incident as it unfolded. People died needlessly and we see it all the time and it is a passing news story. More die in Iraq, protesters or enraged in Pakistan, Nigeria and the list goes on.

My point? Do you know what the most disgusting, frustrating, embarrassing, and disgraceful article I read was?

"Wal-Mart worker trampled to death."

Why? Because last Friday was Black Friday in the U.S. "Come on out and get some great deals people!" That’s right the biggest shopping day of the year.

A person died from shopping!!!? Are you fuc*kin kidding me! What the fu*k…?

I personally make a conscious effort to stay away from Wal-Mart because of their practices, but the blame here sits on the shoulders of the people stampeding into the store to SHOP! I hope every single person that ran into that store lives the rest of their lives with utter guilt and hatred for themselves that they can hardly help from vomiting when they look in the mirror each and every day.

Come on Forts who are you kidding? Those who do care will feel some remorse but others that were there that day will simply chalk it up as an unfortunate accident, because really it is an unfortunate accident. Now don't get me wrong we should all be able to enjoy the fruits of our labour but there is a limit.

And it does not remove the fact that in North America one of our top stories and tragedies is "Wal-Mart worker trampled to death" so that we can shop, shop, shop. Sick!

As North Americans many of us are truly pathetic.

You know the stickers and patches that say "Mean People Suck"? I think we might just have to alter it to;

North American People Suck!