Well, here it is again. Black Friday is almost upon us. Now merchants are extending it into Thanksgiving. Is nothing sacred? Well, yes, the almighty dollar. I don't have a problem with having "In God We Trust" on our currency; I only think the word "this" should be added so that it states "In This God We Trust."
Yesterday I went on a "shop till you drop" expedition with several members of my professional group. It was like traveling to a foreign country. I am not and never have been a "mall rat." My shopping--what little I do of it--is pretty much confined to the much-maligned Wal-Mart, the various Dollar Stores, and before it went under, K-Mart. Speaking of Dollar Stores, there was a man arrested recently for stealing underwear from a Dollar Store. He was caught because he tried to rob a gas station for cigarettes and police found the underwear in his possession. Things must be pretty bad if you have to steal underwear.
All of the other women, with the exception of one besides myself, were married. Even the other single woman had been married before. One of our local political columnists aroused a lot of ire recently for suggesting that the reason single women voted overwhelmingly for Obama is because of the difference between married and single women. The difference, he said, was economic. Single women have a more precarious economic existence than married women with double incomes (theirs and their husbands). He was quickly set straight on the matter. The reason why single women like myself voted for Obama is that we want free government goodies including all the birth control and abortion we want. I have news for those people who said that is why I voted for Obama. I voted for Obama because I felt he was the candidate less likely to do damage to my already meager lifestyle. Oh, well, let people believe what they want. They will anyway.
Now we didn't discuss politics on this trip so I don't know and I don't care how the others voted. But there is indeed a vast economic gulf between those who are married and live on two incomes and those who are not married and must make do on one. The first place this difference was evident was in the stores they chose to go to, and by the way they talked, this was not a once a year trip like it was for me. These are not wealthy women, by the way. They're pretty solidly middle-class (what is left of it). They displayed a familiarity with clothing labels, with designers, that tells me they aren't Wal-mart shoppers. They weren't worried about prices, not the way I worry about prices. The plastic flashed with abandon. I looked at a few price tags and almost had heart failure. "Look at this pair of shoes? Aren't they cute?" Yes, and I can get three pairs at Payless Shoes for the price of one of those. God, I prayed, please save me from the sin of envy.
Then they were talking about their children. One had a six-year-old daughter who was already ruling the roost as far as clothes go. Apparently she has tactile issues which as an Aspie, I get--there's certain things I don't wear for that reason, like wool--but this goes beyond tactile issues. She won't wear certain colors. She won't wear certain patterns. Her mother is at her wit's end trying to find something for her to wear. Sounds like the spectrum to me, I thought, and then another mother spoke up and said she had similar issues with her children. She buys something, daughter says, "I don't like it!" and throws it on the floor. I thought, these girls do not know how spoiled they are. They do not know how fortunate they are. When I was growing up we did not have much money and you took what you got and you appreciated it. And my parents had ways of making sure you appreciated it (or at least did not express your dislike). I was quite appalled. I just cannot relate to that way of living. Lord, if you exist, please save me from the sin of envy.
I work at the food pantry and we are getting ready for our annual distribution of clothing. It's been said that we are expecting an increase in 50 more families (we are up to 100) and now single people are coming too, it seems. Yeah, they just want their handouts. These girls who turn up their noses at what their mothers buy them have no idea what it is like to stand in the cold waiting for their turn to enter the food pantry. They have no idea what it is like to rummage through piles of clothes in a church basement hoping to find something halfway decent in their size. Unfortunately I think that they may be about to find out.
We had a financial planner come to this same group and she was talking about married women to the point where I finally said, "Not all of us have spouses. What about us singles." She said, "You will have to learn to live small." Live small! I already live small! What she means is live smaller. I don't want to live smaller because I know what living smaller means and I don't want to go there. But I am afraid she is right and not just for singles. We are all going to have to learn to live smaller. Party times are over, folks. I'm sorry.
As we were walking down the aisles I saw stacks and stacks of goods getting ready for Black Friday. I would say that most of them required the use of electricity in some form. Now, I have read James Howard Kunstler's "The Long Emergency" and I read his "Cluster**** Nation" blog every Monday. I don't always like what Kunstler says or the way he says it but I think he is dead-on in his analysis of what is happening. Basically, the era of cheap, abundant energy is over. All these things for sale require electricity, that has to be generated somewhere, and from what? I've heard we have lots of oil and natural gas. Then why is fracking such an issue? Why are energy companies resorting to it if there is so much easy oil and gas to get? Why are we drilling where we are drilling? We are doing so because of demand. The easy, cheap stuff is gone. But people haven't got it yet. I was asked to sign a petition banning fracking in Michigan. But I heat my home and cook with natural gas. So if I ban fracking I am shooting myself in the foot, because what am I going to heat my home and cook with. These are issues Kunstler talks about in "The Long Emergency" that will be facing all of us.
It's kind of like watching a first-class ballroom on the Titanic as she steams full speed towards the iceberg.
Yesterday I went on a "shop till you drop" expedition with several members of my professional group. It was like traveling to a foreign country. I am not and never have been a "mall rat." My shopping--what little I do of it--is pretty much confined to the much-maligned Wal-Mart, the various Dollar Stores, and before it went under, K-Mart. Speaking of Dollar Stores, there was a man arrested recently for stealing underwear from a Dollar Store. He was caught because he tried to rob a gas station for cigarettes and police found the underwear in his possession. Things must be pretty bad if you have to steal underwear.
All of the other women, with the exception of one besides myself, were married. Even the other single woman had been married before. One of our local political columnists aroused a lot of ire recently for suggesting that the reason single women voted overwhelmingly for Obama is because of the difference between married and single women. The difference, he said, was economic. Single women have a more precarious economic existence than married women with double incomes (theirs and their husbands). He was quickly set straight on the matter. The reason why single women like myself voted for Obama is that we want free government goodies including all the birth control and abortion we want. I have news for those people who said that is why I voted for Obama. I voted for Obama because I felt he was the candidate less likely to do damage to my already meager lifestyle. Oh, well, let people believe what they want. They will anyway.
Now we didn't discuss politics on this trip so I don't know and I don't care how the others voted. But there is indeed a vast economic gulf between those who are married and live on two incomes and those who are not married and must make do on one. The first place this difference was evident was in the stores they chose to go to, and by the way they talked, this was not a once a year trip like it was for me. These are not wealthy women, by the way. They're pretty solidly middle-class (what is left of it). They displayed a familiarity with clothing labels, with designers, that tells me they aren't Wal-mart shoppers. They weren't worried about prices, not the way I worry about prices. The plastic flashed with abandon. I looked at a few price tags and almost had heart failure. "Look at this pair of shoes? Aren't they cute?" Yes, and I can get three pairs at Payless Shoes for the price of one of those. God, I prayed, please save me from the sin of envy.
Then they were talking about their children. One had a six-year-old daughter who was already ruling the roost as far as clothes go. Apparently she has tactile issues which as an Aspie, I get--there's certain things I don't wear for that reason, like wool--but this goes beyond tactile issues. She won't wear certain colors. She won't wear certain patterns. Her mother is at her wit's end trying to find something for her to wear. Sounds like the spectrum to me, I thought, and then another mother spoke up and said she had similar issues with her children. She buys something, daughter says, "I don't like it!" and throws it on the floor. I thought, these girls do not know how spoiled they are. They do not know how fortunate they are. When I was growing up we did not have much money and you took what you got and you appreciated it. And my parents had ways of making sure you appreciated it (or at least did not express your dislike). I was quite appalled. I just cannot relate to that way of living. Lord, if you exist, please save me from the sin of envy.
I work at the food pantry and we are getting ready for our annual distribution of clothing. It's been said that we are expecting an increase in 50 more families (we are up to 100) and now single people are coming too, it seems. Yeah, they just want their handouts. These girls who turn up their noses at what their mothers buy them have no idea what it is like to stand in the cold waiting for their turn to enter the food pantry. They have no idea what it is like to rummage through piles of clothes in a church basement hoping to find something halfway decent in their size. Unfortunately I think that they may be about to find out.
We had a financial planner come to this same group and she was talking about married women to the point where I finally said, "Not all of us have spouses. What about us singles." She said, "You will have to learn to live small." Live small! I already live small! What she means is live smaller. I don't want to live smaller because I know what living smaller means and I don't want to go there. But I am afraid she is right and not just for singles. We are all going to have to learn to live smaller. Party times are over, folks. I'm sorry.
As we were walking down the aisles I saw stacks and stacks of goods getting ready for Black Friday. I would say that most of them required the use of electricity in some form. Now, I have read James Howard Kunstler's "The Long Emergency" and I read his "Cluster**** Nation" blog every Monday. I don't always like what Kunstler says or the way he says it but I think he is dead-on in his analysis of what is happening. Basically, the era of cheap, abundant energy is over. All these things for sale require electricity, that has to be generated somewhere, and from what? I've heard we have lots of oil and natural gas. Then why is fracking such an issue? Why are energy companies resorting to it if there is so much easy oil and gas to get? Why are we drilling where we are drilling? We are doing so because of demand. The easy, cheap stuff is gone. But people haven't got it yet. I was asked to sign a petition banning fracking in Michigan. But I heat my home and cook with natural gas. So if I ban fracking I am shooting myself in the foot, because what am I going to heat my home and cook with. These are issues Kunstler talks about in "The Long Emergency" that will be facing all of us.
It's kind of like watching a first-class ballroom on the Titanic as she steams full speed towards the iceberg.
