Meant for more than Popeyes chicken, Jordan sneakers

I'm a little late to the Popeyes debacle. Only recently did I hear about fights breaking out over -- that's right! -- a chicken sandwich. I'm all about good food, but really?

So the backstory, I hear, is that Popeyes created a sandwich that's obviously to die for because some people actually have -- at least one. It's so good, in fact, folks are willing to kill other folks for it. They were hollering, hitting, punching, pouncing because Popeyes didn't have enough, and they were, well, is "upset" the right word? "No more chicken sandwiches" invoked a spicy, hot mess with people who, clearly, are a hot mess themselves. Sounds mean to characterize them as such, but what else do you call people willing to throw down over a bird on bread? Yes, we're actually talking about a chicken. This has got to be some deep fiction, right? Unfortunately, it is not -- just deep-fried chicken.

And just a couple weeks or so ago, the chicken sandwich, which had flown the coop, reemerged, and so did the fighting. All kinds of reports are swirling now. The chain's employees have reportedly been secret-selling those suckers on a trash can in Virginia. A Tennessee employee allegedly body-slammed a woman at one Popeyes location. One man died after being stabbed in Maryland over the sandwich. And this, y'all, is the shortlist. How ridiculous and animalistic this is. Actually, I take that back. Even animals would be embarrassed by this behavior.

And this is the thing: When you look at the photos or videos of these miscreants (i.e., thugs), you'd swear these are some of the same people you see in Black Friday news reports that highlight those who -- as my older relatives would say -- "to' they tail" (i.e., "tore their tail"/i.e., "acted a fool") to get a pair of Nike Air Jordan sneakers at a discount (i.e., a price twice as costly, rather than triple the cost of what any sneaker should cost any foot).

Now, this may come off as politically incorrect, but is it me, or do the culprits in these scenarios -- be it Popeyes riots or Black Friday fisticuffs -- always seem to be folks whose money could really be better served on more important things? Why is it that those who don't seem to have a dime to spare for a whole chicken, much less a chicken sandwich, seem to be the ones with not enough sense to know that life is more than a piece of meat or a pair of sneakers from a former basketball player who's already made his millions? Actually, his estimated net worth is 1.9 billion dollars. It's so sad -- and so embarrassing. Oh, would that we would put up as much fuss over our children's right to choice in education or the betterment of our neighborhoods or anything that would outlast the time it takes for food to work itself out of our body or the rubber to be worn off the shoes on our feet.

Where did we go wrong as a society when food and name-brand attire mean more than lives? But then again, this culture has shifted to valuing convenience and comfort over life anyway, and this is just one way it manifests. If, however, we had told our grandparents, who scrounged and saved and prayed, "One day, we'll live in a world where people kill each other over the opportunity to buy a sandwich or purchase new kicks or buy a television" or whatever folks fight over on the day after supposedly giving thanks for all they already have, they would have called us liars to our faces. For now, I suppose, they're just rolling over in their graves -- my ancestors, I'm sure, are at least rolling their eyes -- because look at us now?

I see no way out of this fried chicken nonfiction apart from awakening to a purpose greater than our next meal or next outfit or anything folks are fixated on these days. And that purpose for creation comes from the awareness of a Creator, Who designed us for more than things that appeal to our basest parts. Were it not for this Creator, I'd have zero hope that humanity has a chance of being snatched from the abyss into which we have fallen. But because of Him, I continue to pray that we'll arise to be the people we were destined to be, for we were meant for so much more than food and footwear.

Adrienne Ross is owner of Adrienne Ross Communications and a former Southeast Missourian editorial board member.