Black Friday

It is a beautiful day in New York. I slept in, had coffee and pumpkin bread with a friend, and handed over leftover goodies from yesterday's locavore feast. A bike ride is planned for the afternoon. I walked to a nearby store for a CFL lightbulb (happily found one that came without plastic packaging), and wondered how 'Black Friday' was going in other places.

Now I'm home checking e-mail and just heard this on the radio. In Valley Stream, Long Island-- 17 miles from my front door-- a man has lost his life. He was trampled to death by shoppers.

A Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island store Friday morning, police and witnesses said.

The 34-year-old worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.

Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him. (Credit: New York Daily News)

Today is Black Friday, and something has got to change. I don't know what else to say.