220522 what got me started....
May 22
*****
K and I were in Toronto for summer tires and other errands. I was in Shoppers' Drug Mart at Six Points, then I went to the Valley Farm Produce and the Six Points Dollar Store.
In Shoppers I began to feel sick, looking at the aisles of unnecessary, over-priced stuff - we spend and we spend and it is mostly so unneeded. You are even sent to enter through the high-end beauty section at the front door, but I wait for someone to come out and enter through the exit. I will NOT go through the beauty department. That is "super-crap"! The products in the food aisles are so over-processed that most of their nutrition is gone, and so full of substitute flavourings and colours and preserving chemicals that they are barely food. But our lives are so busy that cooking whole foods is a luxury, and we are told and reminded that these foods are yummy and nutritious and sometimes even "organic/vegan/gluten-free" which is good, right? And where are these foods made? What giant consumer machine has turned them out? The last time I went in, to pick up some meds, I could not stop to buy another thing. I felt dizzy and had to get out.
Then I walked along the plaza to the produce store. It is a family-run business with beautiful fruits and vegetables. I like that they care about what they are doing: it is their livelihood. The food is real there. Everything they sell is as close as can be to its natural state. It is not all local, it comes from far and wide, but that is the norm for fresh produce just now. There is always Ontario produce in the growing seasons.
Next to Valley Farm is the Six Points Dollar Plus. It is a little store run by a person whose kids go to the same school our kids attend. He himself is in the store most days. He knows me and we exchange news about our families. I much prefer doing business there, to a bigger chain store, because it is personal. And community. I do understand that much of the merchandise, in any dollar store, is imported from far away - that is partly what makes it inexpensive. But I like that his hard work is reflected in his income; he puts his heart into his business because it is personally meaningful to him.
When I complain to the pharmacist because I was waiting in line fifteen minutes for my meds, the pharmacist does not care - he gets paid a wage to be there: he doesn't lose the customer, Shoppers' does. (I should have been patient and polite, like the other patrons. I was probably angry about something else and had many things on my mind.) (He did not act as if he cared, but he was polite. Perhaps he felt frustrated and had lots of work to do, and knows that it's a drag to wait.) One of the clerks at the pharmacy desk knows me and greets me with a smile; that's nice. But I think I will have to go to a smaller pharmacy for my meds, where I don't feel like an anonymous item to be processed.
So that is what got me started on yesterday's rant. There is love and kindness all around, and concern for the planet, and for sustainable human existence, but those who have "power" in our world, they are interested in more power, and money, for themselves and their friends, and the machines grind on.
That poor pharmacist, I feel a bit sorry now, but he might be able to change things, if he is truly concerned. But we are most of us caught up in the machinery. We don't dislike our job, but work hard for so little, and then insult to injury, we must pay taxes on those few dollars. While the government bails out the airlines. I KNOW that the airlines are staffed by people who need their jobs! I also know that there are people who "work for" (CEO's, etc.) airlines and they have a car to drive to work and a summer cottage, and if there is an actual owner or two, they too can afford cars and a summer cottage. But there are people with no home, no food, no care. Here in Canada. It is not right.
Keep well. When you can, go to stores that are small, and care about you. If you are about to buy something new then for the sake of your pocketbook and the planet, think twice. Can you buy it from a Canadian company? Can you make do, buy used? You can't always - some items you just need new. Second-hand vacuums and toasters can be iffy. If we could all get together, we might be big enough to make a difference. I know that it is complicated and nuanced and so, so big. I am no doubt naïve. That is why I am afraid that there is going to be a terrible breakdown.
*****
Indre and I found these unusual violets by the creek.
Mumma Yaga
Valley Farm, at Six Points Plaza https://vfproduce.com/
Six Points Dollar Plus https://www.yelp.ca/biz/six-points-dollar-plus-toronto
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