I could enumerate my various food adventures for you this week, tell you how I went to Hattiesburg, Ms with my mom and ate good Arabic food at a place called Petra and had some amazing custard at Bop's. And how, true to form, I only managed to get a picture of the custard. However, I feel it necessary to discuss our current state of affairs.
While on my way to the jewelry show (one of the most materialistic events on the planet) in NOLA with my mother and two grandmother's in tow, we started a conversation on the trendy topic: "Ain't dere no more." This discussion evolved somehow into the slowing/stagnant economy and how we've lost faith in people, and the me, me, me...I WANT IT NOW, self-absorbed attitudes most American's have fueled our talk.
I envy my grandmothers. One of them, Honey, was born in October of 1929, so obviously, as the date intimates she was a child of the Great Depression. Her parents were fortunate enough to know some wonderful people. Her father was out of work for a year and they had absolutely no money at one point, yet their landlord let them stay, their grocer continued to supply them with food, and the nuns let my grandmother go to school. The mentality was, you pay when you CAN pay. Things got better and they paid all their debts, and quiet frankly my grandmother has led a rather privileged life ever since. But, today that would never happen. The corner grocer "ain't dere no more" you have to go to Walmart-the great culture killer-if you don't want to spend your entire paycheck on groceries. And you can guarantee your landlord will evict you if you are late with the rent check more than once. Moral of the story here...BUY LOCAL! BUY NOLA! BUY LOUISIANA! BUY USA! Invest in your community for posterity, if nothing else.
Something has to give in this economy. We need to take pride in what's around us. I see more abuse of the system in my new place of work than I care to admit, and it disgusts me. What do we do about it? I'm thinking in terms of baby steps here with the buying local and investing in your community. Clean up the streets, remember there are farmers and fishermen in this state and the next one over who need our patronage, stop buying crap from China, help your neighbor, and take pride in your surroundings. I think when people have something to be proud of, things will improve. Its the current set up where the government foots the bill for food and medical care for people who drive BMW's and Mercedes Benz that don't work and abuse the system, thus they take no pride in anything they have because it was neither earned nor deserved, that needs to end--this sentence was almost long and incoherent enough to be in an Edward Said book.
I did feel the pangs of guilt though. I bought some very nice pieces that I should not have, but I figure while I can be slightly irresponsible with my income I may as well get it out of my system to avoid F*&^ing up big time when I finally get my big girl job. I also decided this is my time to live a little. I moved back home because I could not afford to live on my own. I didn't run to the government and demand financial support because "IT'S MY RIGHT." Well no, it isn't my right to live off the honest people. I'm scraping all my pennies together to have one last hurrah before my real life begins...yet I still feel guilty because I feel like I should be saving this money. So while I'm still and educated derelict, I've decided to enjoy myself--but not so much I can't pay my student loan bill every month. Maybe I know deep down that my spending can be justified because my responsibilities are not that demanding yet and I'm not going around attempting to complicate my life financially by having more children than I can afford or any children for that matter.
God does have a sense of humor though-we were shown that there still are good people in the world. When we entered the jewelry show, we were told we could only bring one guest (my mom still had her pass so only my grandmothers needed passes). The lady next to us, whom we shall call Mrs. Mary Kay consultant because that was her business name, was kind enough to let us use her guest pass for the day. Just when we thought people didn't look out for other people. Insert foot in mouth...thanks! After that we received a reality check when some girl almost knocked Honey over, so rude. But the salesman who lives in Alaska/California contributed another point to the redemption of the Human Race. :), He was great!
Hopping down from the soap box now...hope you enjoyed the rant...
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