Black and Blue Friday

"Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"

- Charlie Brown

Charles Schulz's cartoon character first asked that rhetorical question 40 years ago next week - and every year since. Yet, it seems we know less about the meaning of Christmas each year.

It's supposed to be about peace, good will toward men, the birth of our Savior, redemption and salvation.

Today, however, it's about the latest electronics and toys - and what people will do to each other to get them.

There's a competition now among stores to be the first to open on the Friday after Thanksgiving - and a zeal among shoppers to be the first in the door to snatch up the best deals before anyone else does. Such selfish motives, so at odds with the real meaning of Christmas, result in incivility and even violence.

This year appears to have been uglier and more dangerous than ever.

A stampede at a Wal-Mart in western Michigan injured two, who were later hospitalized.

A 73-year-old woman in south Florida was trampled at an electronics store.

And a crowd took out its anger on some apparent line-jumpers outside a Wal-Mart in Orlando.

One shopper outside a Florida Wal-Mart said his wife went home to avoid the danger.

"I hit my head on the floor, and people stepped on me," said the 73-year-old victim, Josephine Hoffman. "I don't understand why people do these things."

Greed, Josephine. Pure, unadulterated greed.

We need to be more like Linus and less like Lucy: calm, loving and focused on the real meaning of Christmas.

We need to be more Christ-like.

The hideous start to the holiday shopping season has nothing to do with the real Christmas.