When I go shopping there seems to be various characteristics which make me wonder if it contains a microcosm of society. To begin with, I may be the only one with this first issue as a pet peeve but personally I feel it a sign of something with deeper seeded meaning.
1) Grocery Carts - why can't they get delivered back to their designated corral in the parking lot or where they belong in the store? Many reasons I am sure would be given suc
h as: I have kids with me. I am in a hurry. That's what they pay the employees to do, and so on. First, if you have kids, what a great lesson to teach them, to return things to their proper place. Make a game out it, etc. If you are in a hurry fine, then by the looks of some parking lots there sure are a lot of people in a hurry ( I say with sarcasm). Finally, maybe it is what they are paid to do, but we also pay police to catch the bad guys and that doesn't make it okay to rob a bank. We pay fireman to put out fires but it is still not okay to be an Arsonist. I realize I am going a little
overboard... just trying to do my best to make a minor point that I don't appreciate having the parking lot be a littering ground for carts, and don't think just because you pop the wheels up on the curb it is okay.2) Clickers that honk the horn when the door lock is pressed- When did it become okay to honk a horn when someone was walking right by the car? Again, I am sure
there are many good arguments like setting the alarm, and making sure the car is locked etc. I don't feel like explaining this one since I am probably in the minority here. I just know that many times I am startled by a honking horn (rude, rude, rude) and I don't believe the means justify the end. If you feel it is so important to honk your horn than at least have the courtesy to park you car far away... more on that later.
3) Paper or Plastic - Which is better paper or plastic. Answer is neither, Oprah last week said the same thing on her show which I already knew. To read some good ideas to think about go here and click through the 17 different topics. We are a dysfunctional society if we cannot inconvenience ourselves a little to make this world a little better. If you don't use reusable bags, hopefully you do other things and one day may work towards more ideas like reducing the amount of paper and plastic used. Cindy and I have been using the same bags for about a dozen years. They hold more, they don't break, and they do not use up our renewable sources.
3) Paper or Plastic - Which is better paper or plastic. Answer is neither, Oprah last week said the same thing on her show which I already knew. To read some good ideas to think about go here and click through the 17 different topics. We are a dysfunctional society if we cannot inconvenience ourselves a little to make this world a little better. If you don't use reusable bags, hopefully you do other things and one day may work towards more ideas like reducing the amount of paper and plastic used. Cindy and I have been using the same bags for about a dozen years. They hold more, they don't break, and they do not use up our renewable sources.
It is estimated "12 million barrels of oil are required to make the 100 billion [?] plastic shopping bags Americans go through annually" and for the paper bags it is estimated "14 million trees were cut to produce the 10 billion paper grocery bags used by Americans" did you read the 14 million trees part?. I am not perfect... only trying to evolve. I have always pulled the plastic bags off the spindles in the produce section but realize now that is just as bad. I recently ordered more bags including reusable ones for produce at ecobags.com. We do not compost (and we should), our vehicles only get between 20 and 30 mpg, etc., etc., etc. But, pressure to keep evolving needs to be put on the human race and I fear society is heading backwards.
4) The need to park as close as possible to the entrance - This is where I get back to the topic of running. To try and counterbalance this issue, I park at the entrance to the parking lot about a quarter mile from the entrance (not always). Grab my reusable bags, and jog to the store. I have saved gas not driving a quarter mile further and driving around in stop and go traffic looking for a parking spot, if I want to honk my horn it will not disturb anyone, and I can drop off my cart at the entrance since my bags can carry plenty. All this and I get a little excercise carrying bags to and from the store. Ted Corbitt, an Ultrarunner would often jog to the subway each morning for some exercise and once overheard a guy say, "Man, that cats always late to work every morning". It's all about perception.
Does the grocery store really mirror as a microcosm of society?... probably not. But we do have an obesity problem, we are becoming less polite (a personal opininon), and we are the biggest polluters on the planet. Oh well, I'm guessing these problems aren't going away any time soon, but if you see some weirdo jogging across the parking lot from a far away parked car, please wait for me to go by before you lock your car. Beep Beep :-)
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