I’ve never been a fan of Black Friday.

I’ve never quite understood what allure there is to leaving your home in the middle of the night to stand in line outside a store that is opening at a ridiculously early hour just to get a few so-called “bargains.”

It has always struck me as everything that is wrong with the holiday season.

But this year it took on a whole new, ugly meaning.

In at least two instances, the traditional start of the Black Friday holiday shopping season turned deadly.

Authorities in Long Island say the crowd that had been waiting outside a Wal-Mart store stormed the doors when it finally opened. In the process a store employee was trampled to death.

Not that that was enough to stop these crazed shoppers from their appointed rounds. People went about their business and were actually upset to learn the store was going to be closed.

Wouldn’t want to let a little thing like someone’s death stand in the way of getting that “must” Christmas gift.

And in California, a dispute over some items in a Toys R Us ended in gunfire, with one person dead.

I have been railing for years about the commercialization of Christmas and my yearning to get back to a simpler time and the true meaning of the holiday.

I thought maybe the downturn in the economy this year would help move us in that direction.

Maybe not.