People call the day after Thanksgiving "Black Friday" because it is the day many retail stores' sales figures finally get out of the red and into the black for the year. But this year, Black Friday was black for very different reasons.

Americans turned out to shop as usual. They scouted out the sales and lined up early. But things took a turn for the worst in some parts of the country.

At a Wal-Mart store in Long Island, N.Y., a temporary worker was trampled to death by a crowd of shoppers. The 34-year-old worker was attempting to unlock the store's front doors at 5 a.m. when crowds pushed past him, knocking him over.

A store surveillance video showed about 12 people who were knocked to the floor in what authorities called a "stampede" of shoppers on a "full-out run." The tape showed hundreds of people stepping on the worker and it took several minutes before others could clear space and help the man. According to CNN, the police administering first aid "were also jostled and pushed."

The man was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead.

Others in the crowd sustained minor injuries and a 28-year-old pregnant woman nearly miscarried and was hospitalized.

I don't understand how people can do things like that to others. How do you not realize you are trampling a human being? How is getting the perfect gift for a cheaper price more important than helping a fallen man or a pregnant woman?

It isn't. Americans' priorities during the Christmas season have just veered sharply off course.

This was further evidenced at a Toys "R" Us store in Palm Desert, Calif., where two men shot and killed each other after an argument. What ever happened to Christmas spirit, peace on Earth and goodwill toward men?

I don't think you can put a price on a human life, but if I were to do so, that price would be much higher than any item in a Wal-Mart or Toys "R" Us. It would buy much more than a half-price big screen TV, $5 DVDs, the latest video game or the newest Barbie doll.

This is supposed to be a season of giving and instead lives have been taken. Now their families will always remember Christmas and the holiday season with the bitter, sad memories of their loved ones' deaths. They will also look back on those deaths knowing they could — and should — have been avoided by common courtesy.

Christmas isn't about the gifts. In our capitalist, greedy culture it can be easy to forget about the baby born so many years ago in a manger, but that is no excuse for exploiting the holiday.

Here's to hoping Americans get their act together and remember what the Christmas season is really about. No sale is worth a human life. The holiday is supposed to be a celebration of life — one of the greatest lives of all, actually.