Black Friday Die Die Die

America's most obscene shopping day meets its doom in an oily nightmare hell. All true!

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Is this why they hate us? Why we hate ourselves? Is this why we seem to have no real idea who the hell we are anymore, or what it means to have a humane and thoughtful national identity, and therefore we happily scratch and claw and fight our way into giant fluorescent-lit hellpits for a chance at a $29 DVD player and some crappy plasma TVs and a pallet of heavily discounted spatulas?

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Black Friday Die Die Die

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory...

"Don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted..."
"What happened?"
"He lived happily ever after."

Why?

Because he was content with what he had received. He decided what he wanted, and created a plan to achieve it, and put that plan in motion.

In the movie, the plan worked out, but, given the personality of Mr. Willy Wonka, there was probably a Plan B, if all of the children that showed up with Golden Tickets washed out.

When he achieved his goal (someone to take over the factory), he was content.

Can I:

1- Decide what I want?
2- Create a plan to get what I want? (And a Plan B)
3- Put the plan into motion?
4- Be content with reaching my goal?

A famous tycoon once defined enough: "Just a little bit more [than what he already had]." I'll go a little farther and say that he exactly defined "greed".

I am happy and grateful for all the things and people that are in my life, and in the lives of my family, and, to quote another fictional character, "Enough is as good as a feast."

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory...