Nourishment

Rather than put off grocery shopping until after work on Wednesday, when I knew this essential task would likely be preempted by War in the North, I decided to do it during my lunch break. My goal - inspired by my significant other - is not only to refrain from eating meat, but to actually eat vegetables instead of quesadillas, which tends to be my default non-meat dish. I figured a good way to do that would be to actually stock my refrigerator with vegetables. I bought spaghetti squash, eggplant, onions, green onions, tomatoes, acorn squash, apples, pears, bananas, milk, almond milk, cereal, and eggs.

At the checkout was a pyramid of identical paper grocery bags each filled with about $10 worth of food. When purchased, the food would be delivered to a local food bank for Thanksgiving. I thought, I am so lucky. I have a job, one that isn't so strict that I can't take a slightly longer lunch if I need to. I can afford to eat healthy food, even if I don't always do so, have decent insurance, and am in reasonably good health. I have a place to live, great friends, and most of my problems can basically be written off as first-world problems (e.g. I have more video games than time to play them). It's so easy to take things for granted when you don't have to worry about them. I want always to be grateful, even for being able to do something as mundane as shopping for groceries. So many people don't have that luxury.

I picked up a bag and put it in my cart. An impulse buy, yes, but much more worthwhile than the two magazines I could have purchased with the same amount of money. I felt happy. I smiled at the woman in line behind me, who, despite her full cart and "Namaste" shirt, didn't look happy at all. That's something I noticed recently when tabling for an event at a local mall - people tend not to smile when they're shopping, or even seem pleased to be there. And that was on a Saturday night! This was a place people chose to spend their prime leisure time, and they all looked supremely miserable. I wonder if people would still spend time there if they could see the expressions on their own faces instead of the nicely-dressed mannequins reflecting their aspirations.