This year’s Black Friday is a confirmation of how other countries view the United States of America. Our capitalistic “me first” attitudes have made us the laughing stock of the entire world.

We have become a society of spoiled citizens who idolize merchandise over family values, money over morality, and indulgence over dignity.

We take our “rights” to a whole new level, which puts other citizens at risk.

The reality is that one-third of all merchandise being fought over on this day will end up in a trash heap by next year’s Black Friday. In three years, 90 percent of what people fought over will become garbage.

This saddens me, and I am so fearful that our great country will forfeit its higher purpose to greed and narcissism.

As a society, we are out of control, and have become decadent. What happened to ancient Rome eventually will happen to us.

Yvette Dombrowski, Smithfield