Did you see any of those television reports on the post-Thanksgiving Day shopping spree, Bush? Did it fill your heart with pride to see all those good folks stampeding through the starting gates to get their "values"--and contribute to the health of the economy? (I recall you did tell us all to go out and buy after 9/11!) Or did it turn your stomach just a little bit?
They say that your election was won on the basis of "values", and I suppose by that they mean "moral values" and not "mall values"--only a slight phonetic shift. But the spectacle of the malls reveals another of those uncomfortable ironies, as I see it: the confusion between the values you hope to cash in on at the superstore and the values you take home with you to the dinner table--the ones we all hope to live our lives by. The way I was brought up, mall values have to do with me-first concupiscence and, yes, sometimes, honestly, sheer greed. Moral values have to do with generosity and selflessness--the ability to stand back and put others first. Forgive me, but I don’t see much of the latter in the stampede for post-Thanksgiving bargains.
Am I belaboring the obvious here, Bush? Am I getting preachy in my senility? I started out, earlier this morning, thinking to write about religion, and now look what happened. I got sidetracked. I should take my wife's advice, and watch less television news...
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