The Grocery Store and the Pursuit of Dreams
Meanwhile, back at our college campus protests, how about some teach-ins?
But first … Those of you of a certain age might remember the teach-ins that were a feature of the student protests of the 1960s. They were organized by the students themselves for the most part (sympathetic faculty took part as well), but why not the University itself? It would be a relatively simple matter to invite faculty members and guest lecturers with expertise in any number of relevant disciplines to invite protesters (as well as any current students) to lectures and seminar discussions focusing on the immediate matter of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, moral issues surrounding Jewish and Palestinian rights, strategies for conflict resolution in the world’s most volatile region, how American foreign policy and geo-political interests intersect with the Netanyahu government’s short term political interests, the problem of Iran … the list could go on. Papers should be encouraged as a direct product of such teach-ins, with protesters invited to submit their own statements. These days it can all be posted and promoted via social media in near real time.
This would be consistent with both the natural educational mandate of any university as well as the highest traditions of American democracy and free speech. If finals weeks are, to a degree, being disrupted, an authorized shift to a schedule of optional teach-ins would maintain the continuity of that mandate and recognize the urgency that motivates the students. It would also provide a constructive outlet for political tension, an alternative to bringing in police (or the National Guard) to restore order by confiscating tents and arresting a cross-section of demonstrators. Not that law enforcement shouldn’t be at the ready in the event of actual violence. The threat of non-student outside agitators engaging in unacceptable attacks on protesters, such as those that appeared at UCLA a few days ago, is no trivial matter. But rather than the implied assumption that the current protests are illegitimate, the message would show that those voices are being heard, and given a platform that would be informative rather than provocative.
As for the tent encampments popping up on one university quad or another, give those kids a free breakfast. They need to know that if they act in the best tradition of Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement they deserve to be supported, not arrested.
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I’ve been my family’s primary grocery shopper for over 50 years. I am very much at ease doing that because two generations of my family operated a small group of what in those days passed for one of the first supermarket chains (all of four stores). My grandfather and uncles helped pioneer their rise in Los Angeles soon after the end of World War II. The whole idea of how people obtain and consume food is full of shopper misreadings and fantasies. I can’t help but laugh when I hear about people complaining about the price of eggs. The systems that bring those eggs to you are intricate. Nothing ever existed like today’s supermarkets, thanks in no small part to the marvels of refrigeration technology, agricultural methodology, and distribution infrastructure. That is no easy thing, but in the mere decades since it all came together we have grown complacent, taking for granted a system that seemingly sprang up centuries ago from a few magic beans.
Most Americans are housed, well-fed, nicely clothed, and and living very secure and comfortable life styles. To be sure, food insecurity is a serious matter for some, and therefore an important public priority if we take seriously the moral principle that we leave no one behind. A major component of the good life is the ready availability of quality food that is safe and good for your health. Most of us make our regular trips to the market with no thought about how those thousands of food choices make their way to the grocery shelves: produce, meats, canned goods, service deli.
The confluence of all of the products and brands all fits together with a lot of imperfect efficiency. The accessibility of varied and quality food products is unprecedented. The improvements accelerated during the Great Depression, a decade of innovation driven by economic necessity, and the pubic policies of the Roosevelt administration. Since the catastrophe of World War II we have enjoyed 8 decades of unprecedented affluence and relative stability that too many seem eager to toss to one side for all the wrong reasons.
Our ability to count on food safety is a product of advanced governmental regulation, but also a willing business community. Most businesspeople want to earn a legitimate profit by providing opportunities for their employees and customers. Private enterprise and regulatory government are both well served by a partnership, not an enemy-ship. That in turn has provided broad public benefit. Our ability to return from a pleasant 30 minutes inside a supermarket and conveniently store enough food at home, for weeks or months at a time if need be, is almost amusing. For most of our species’ short existence nearly all of our waking hours would be driven by the need to forage, grow, and obtain food. And until the last few millennia no tools for preparing and cooking it! The sudden advances over a few decades are nothing short of radical.
Make no mistake, supermarkets save all of us enormous amounts of labor, time, and money. Complain about the price of eggs if you must, but do not take this system for granted. It is brand spanking new. It represents a large agglomeration of interests, many of which receive only a nominal portion of profits from the business. The bulk ultimately flows to the owners and executives. That can work up to a point, and the principals must develop a healthy understanding of the essential role and value of the folks that work for them and consume their products. That is reflective of a deeply systemic problem that cuts across most industries. Sigh. Too many food products suck or are superfluous, but much more consequential is the plethora of individual pieces must be orchestrated to make shopping for food successful, cost effective — and even pleasant. For a lot of people it will never, ever be fun. For me it is very much in my comfort zone.
I’ve always been at ease walking into a market because I grew up in that environment. I would occasionally hang out to bag groceries and read the comic books in the liquor department before I was a teenager. I saw the boxes and crates of merchandise brought to the warehouse section of the store en route to being placed on the shelves by the staff. I knew the checkers and the store managers, or rather they knew me. Shoppers would remark to me, “So you are Simon’s grandson.” I saw the large 18-wheelers that dropped off boxes and crates day after day.
I may have been at home there, but the grocery business was never going to excite me in the least. From a very young age, under 10 for sure, I knew that I never wanted to work in this business. But the system for gathering a large array of foods under one (air conditioned) roof was crafted by a limited number of entrepreneurs within each of numerous silos, and I have always been able to appreciate that. Visualizing the network of suppliers, distributors, etc. is no easy thing, their sheer number disappears into the mist of distance. The starting point is out in those agricultural fields of our food growing regions. The nexus at which product meets the consumer is the supermarket. The competition for shelf space can be fierce. And products are pulled and added all the time.
It is a psychically bloody playing field, but when you as a consumer enter things are clean, orderly, plentiful. We must have milk, eggs and other items that you can’t really eat well without. Then there are items, food luxuries if you will, that you always look forward to eating, week in and week out. The number of worthwhile supermarkets in my mid-size city near L.A. is about six (there may be 15-20 options available). So you don’t really get bored or come to dislike any one of them because each has something worth offering that may warrant a visit every week or only every few months. My wife and I favor a weekly trip to Gelson’s. I look forward to certain items there as I do with each of the others. Gelson’s, however, has more such than any other, and the shopping environment is excellent unless you prefer large crowds and people lined up four or five deep at the checkout stand. It does cost more, but I rate it an affordable extra cost that is well worth it. It bothers me that there are people — lots of people — for whom that extra cost puts something worthwhile out of reach, at least when it comes to food, itself a necessity not a luxury. It costs something extra to buy and eat trout from Gelson’s as opposed to Ralph’s. It is worth the extra cost, but it is a small if very real luxury. We each determine what is affordable for ourselves and our families.
It is not that difficult to think of other businesses and trades that make life better, for me personally and the millions of people I live within an hour of. Thanks to supermarkets we are gifted with the time to pursue professional and personal options better suited to preference than necessity. For my part, I am comfortable in the grocery store environment strictly as a consumer, and appreciate how much discretion it gives me in higher priority pastimes. Aware of it or not, the modern supermarket has enabled so many of us to pursue our dreams.