A friend of mine decided to partake in the “100 mile diet”. Click for details. This is way too much for me to think about. I am happy that other people are thinking about it and I cannot wait to shop at the 100 mile store.
In the meantime, here is a paraphrased quote from my friend on something he found out that had me thinking about how absurd things can be…
“I went to the Gimli fish market in Manitoba (Canada) to purchase some Manitoba pickerel for the 100 mile diet. I flipped the package over and read “packaged in China”. I asked the store clerk and she said that it was cheaper to have it packaged in China”.
This means that the fish are caught in Gimli Manitoba, Canada and then bulk shipped to China to be packaged and sent back to Canada. Think about that for a while.
From a global business perspective it makes sense. If you have a larger business, you have the following dilemma: Pay someone in your own country $10 per hour to package or make a product or pay someone in another country $10 per week to do the same job.
What would global business do? What would you do? What would Jesus do?
If you choose the first option, you will soon be out of business to the person who chooses the second option and undercuts your price by a ridiculous amount. From a global business perspective, having things made at low-cost and selling at high cost is called “good business”.
I don’t think that Jesus would manifest 5000 fishes and loaves only to say “Wait! I have to ship these overseas for packaging”. I tend think that everything started breaking down when some people began hoarding food and goods in order to profit from the needs of their brothers & sisters. Could you imagine squirrels charging other squirrels a premium for nuts?
I’ve boiled it down to this question: How many people in your neighborhood do you know? One? Three? All of them?
Until we get back to community living and become involved in the process of food growing and sharing we have to accept that big business will fill that void.
As much as we may desire something better or different, it is ultimately what we allow in order to preserve our convenient lifestyles that prevails.
