Tonight after studying for the Logic Games portion of the LSAT (aka flipping through Women’s Health and Elle) I decided to torture myself by going to Wal-Mart.
Although I would rather starve than go there, I have many people who count on me to not disappear anytime soon so I was forced to buy food to get me through the rest of the week.
I made a beeline for the usual aisle. As I was picking up a box of delicious (no sarcasm intended) Fiber One Bars, I realized the first box I picked up was slightly smashed in and not aesthetically pleasing. Without much thought I threw it to the back of the shelf and found a “better looking” box.
I didn’t get two steps away before I realized what a lifetime of privilege has done to me. It has secretly swept me into a mindset that tells me that if it isn’t easy, perfect or what’s seemingly best for me than I don’t have to deal with it. I can throw it aside in pursuit of something better.
Sure, in some areas of life this is okay. I mean, you definitely shouldn’t settle when it comes to marriage, education, jobs, etc. But when it comes to something as silly as a box of Fiber One bars that is a bit tattered, then maybe it’s ok to just choose that box. The more I work at the coffee shop the more I realize that this is extremely true.
We throw away pastries just because they are slightly “damaged”. Although some of them get saved for the local orphanage, a lot of them don’t. And I’m sure not every coffee shop in every city has the same practice. And as I see myself throwing that box to the back or removing those pastries from the shelf, I see them getting thrown away and I see the face of someone in the world who hasn’t had a meal in a few days. Or who doesn’t have the luxury of driving to a place like Wal-Mart to grab a few things (although sometimes I wish I didn’t have that option either).
I’m not all that naive. I know that saving a pastry or a box of snack bars isn’t going to save anyone from starvation. But there is still something to this. There is an overwhelming feeling of not caring among us. Accompanied by years of training in the idea that we should always get what we want, how we want it.
That’s not reality. At least not for everyone.
Maybe it won’t help anything, but I think I’ll take that tattered box next time.
