Good will

I thought about discussing several very large issues today: maybe renewable power sources with a line or two about global warming; maybe agribusiness and the very large and sad impact it has had on American dietary habits; maybe the War on terror and its high cost/benefit ratio… I could discuss privacy and how important it is to the American way of life and how many people seem to take it for granted. I could hold forth on drug policy, economics, intellectual property rights, or our political leaders… None of that appeals right now.

This morning while I was running some errands, I realized that I could use a really cheap blender for non-food processing purposes (for making soap, if you must know). I was driving along and saw a particular non-profit charitable retail outlet so I stopped there, thinking, "Yeah! they'll have cheap appliances."

The first thing that struck me on entry was the smell. That "old people" smell. It's not offensive per se, but it is distinctive and it isn't pleasant. The next thing that struck me was the customer clientele. There was one elderly man in a motorized wheelchair there perusing a rack of coats. It looked like the right half of his lower jaw was gone. There were several women there. Two of them might have been about middle age but they had obviously been through a few very rough decades and had been left out in the rain a few too many times. They were looking at house-wears. There was also a man of about middle age obviously a blue collar working man from his apparel and the appearance of his hands. He was looking at an end table.

They did have a blender there. It was $3.00. I didn't buy it. $3.00 isn't very much to me. I spend more than that on one bottle of beer. For me it would have been a nice little toy for pursuit of a hobby a few weekends a year. For these people, that would be the difference between having an appliance to make their lives that much better or not having one at all.