all consuming

I am not sure exactly what it is about consumerism that makes me want to weep, but watching all the people line up outside stores in the dark to be the first one inside, to get the best deals, to spend, spend, spend, makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry. Maybe its because it's a reality incomprehensible to the majority of the world who would give a limb to have the same small fortune that folks are willing to squander on the latest thing, or out of a sense of obligation to others, or to simply feel full.

There is something so incredibly sad about it. Or maybe it's just me.

Does anyone have any thoughts about the upside of consumerism? Because I can't seem to find it and am wondering what it must be.