The degeneration of Christmas

This archived article was written by: Cassidy Scovill

Last November on Black Friday an employee of a Wal-Mart was trampled to death when he opened the doors of the Wal-Mart. The crowds burst through the doors and knocked him over and trampled him to death. Four other people were injured while attempting to rescue the man, including a woman who was eight months pregnant. America has truly lost its Christmas spirit.
A year after that security guard was crushed to death by a stampede of frugal spenders. Where there was once a mad dash for the item, now there are lines. They convert the food isles to herd the costumers (cattle) into easily managed lines. I myself went to Black Friday, to risk life and limb to get my hands on a TV. I casually walked in got a map, and walked to the area where my TV would be dealt out. The isle was crowded with people standing, most were sitting, and at the end of the line there were people sleeping in the middle of the isle. It looked like the bread line during the Depression. The people here were not afraid to wait hours on end to save. I myself stood in the line for two hours and as time went on I realized that I would rather spend double than wait in a line for that long ever again.
Christmas was once a time of traditions, where parents would tell their children that a bearded man in a red suit came to give them gifts. Children act good because some omnipotent bearded man watched over them, and would give them gifts depending on how good they are. In Denmark, Santa was a figure to be feared. His elves put children into sacks and beat them with chains. We’ve lost the fear that kept children in line and now chaos is all around us.
In America, Christmas has degenerated into a costumer’s nightmare. Stores display their Christmas ads earlier and earlier. Once good nature and Christmas spirit reigned now there is only survival of the fittest. The people you see in the store are there to take what Wal-Mart has promised them. It’s a rat race and every other shopper is a rat out to get the cheese first.
Traditions are all but dead. The only traditions I have heard of is getting to open one small gift on the night before Christmas. Even this is just an attempt to get the kids to stop from peeking at their presents just a moment earlier. All the traditions of my family were put there to prevent us greedy children from finding out just what we got.
It’s no longer the thought that counts, but the price tag; the higher the price, the more your parents love you. Grandma spends hours knitting you a pair of socks, knowing that she’s spending her last moments on this planet making a gift. When we get something someone put their hearts and souls into, we are disgusted. The present can’t call people, connect to the internet, and doesn’t even have a camera. When we receive these gifts we actually get mad, and we stow them in a closet so we never have to see them again.
Now traditions are what corporations want them to be; Santa Claus used to be a man in green dressed up like the pope, and then in 1937 a Coke Cola ad featured the Santa we know and love. They dressed him as a jolly fat man in red winking with a coke. When anyone pictures Santa he is always in red, and his elves that were once frightening minions that threatened children with chains now have cute marketable faces that help sell cookies and all things coveted.
Crime and Christmas are not usually associated but, according to the Bureau of Crime Statistics almost every crime spikes from December 18th to January 1st. Even Crimes involving sexual assault show a spike during the Christmas season. It looks like mommy wasn’t only kissing Santa Claus. Robberies of course spike greatly, but even more of a spike is malicious damage. Good cheer is replaced jealousy and the urge to have more stuff
The traditions of Christmas have changed. Now our traditions are to get the best products at the cheapest prices. The only tradition that manages to keep going is the huge spike in crime.