dirty hands

In case you hadn’t noticed, a popular subject in this blog lately has been stuff. Makes sense when one is in the midst of a move that requires packing up, purging, and moving stuff. But I’ve said all that.

So… maybe it’s no surprise that a few news stories today sparked more thought to this subject. I turned on BBC World News this morning. Something I should do more often, because it reminds me that there are more important things happening than multiple Bruins victory laps or sex scandals. I caught a piece on the growing population of cities. They profiled Calcutta and showed footage of the shanty towns, where one family lives in one room. I saw that as I sat in my nearly empty living room thinking, wow, I have so much more than I need.

Then, as I’m looking through the BBC website to find this story again, I stumbled on a piece about the need to spend ridiculous amounts of money on celebrations of weddings, birthdays, and proms. On stuff. Well, read the story and draw your own conclusion.

And while I was there, I also saw the headline for the popular story of the hour, the lawsuit against Walmart being tossed out by the Supreme Court. I know… sigh… I’ve had this conversation a lot with people. It’s not that I don’t get why people shop there. It’s nice to save money. To have money to do other things. The crunch on the wallet is once again making me wrestle with my Target devotion, as they have their own labor issues. But Walmart… ugh. I know whenever I save money, it’s because I’m taking that money away from someone else. From the employees who don’t make a decent living. From the manufacturers who have to undersell to be competitive. From the local businesses that have to close shop because they cannot be competitive. I don’t know if my savings on things I don’t always really need are worth the contribution to a lesser economy. My compliance to the power of the corporate entity. I feel helpless and culpable all at once. Maybe it’s not blood on my hands… but it’s certainly grease that helps the money slip away.