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I rose from my evening’s indulgence. Pushing pause, I passed through the dark room, glowing with a crystal glare, and entered the kitchen. Flicking on the lights, white recessed cans struck their yellow casts onto shadows with a soft incandescence, like a candle on a corner bookshelf.<br />I reached the pantry, opened its wooden doors and pulled down two contents. One was a can of Equal Exchange Organic Hot Cocoa. The other was a plastic bag of Western Family Marshmallows—jumbo.<br />

The Brotherhood of Corporation

Camron Karsten
2007-04-27 22:26:53

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fresh, having been packed, shipped, stacked and stored for months, and more, they were not sustainable, the plastic bag unsalvageable—America’s weak recycling programs would not help this time, once again.

The movie ended. I went to the kitchen sink and washed my brown, sugar-stained mug. I opened the pantry and perused its contents. As I observed, I took note of the products: most were organic, purchased in bulk. They were stored in containers able for reuse or recycling. They were fresh, and most of all, they were limited. The pantry had only the necessities and a few luxuries, not piled with the excesses of your soccer-crazed Mom with an over-zealous fear of Judgment Day. But then…the mallows of marsh (and indeed, the memories of birthday parties playing Chubby Bunny).

Despite my reassurance over the impact I was making on the world, I felt a need to do more (or less). This yearning carries me into each and every experience. It is one of caring for the world, caring for our family of brothers and sisters. It is a desire to look forward into the future and make sure we have preserved the beauty of the land and its resources for the generations to come.

Okay, maybe a few marshmallows isn’t bad, and maybe a few other things, but what more can I do? What more can we do to better our minds and lifestyles. And what more can we do to make a difference in the way the world operates and the way the economies run so economic tyrants like Wal-Mart return to their original basis of foundation. Wal-Mart’s founder Sam Walton once said, “You can’t create a team spirit when the situation is so one-sided, when management gets so much and workers get so little of the pie.” I wonder if today’s CEO Lee Scott remembers his company’s grandfather?

Your Individual Co-operation

In Mexico, I overheard a woman who had been traveling to Mazatlan for twenty-five years. She said she was grateful for the new Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club. Now just a mere five-minute pulmonia ride, she gets all her groceries as if she were back home. “We arrive. We shop at Sam’s Club.”

That night, I found myself in the heart of Old Mazatlan wandering the Centro Historic in Mercado Pino Suarez. Now this was Mexico. The large market houses vendors from traditional foods of homebrewed recipes to clothing and appliances. It is real, sustainable, and it is Mexico. It is a culture of a culture supporting a singular culture of people. It is their livelihoods within their tradition of agriculture, textiles and cooking.
Purchases made, a small-town local supported. Sustainability supported.

Back home, the America continues to pervade as it attempts to expand and dominate other regions from the Latin world, to Asia’s China, India and Bangladesh, to Europe and beyond. Though, there are those among us who care, and we believe in a higher standard, not of income or consumption, but in something far surpassing the physical world. We’ve come to incorporate this into Mother Earth’s life. If some don’t take notice, it’s bound to fall in the other hands far more omniscient.

On March 15, the Wal-Mart of Poulsbo saw a glimpse of its fate. By The Associated Press, The Seattle P-I reported a fire that broke out in the women’s undergarment department causing one million dollars of damage. Nobody was injured and officials are looking into suspected arson.

This article is written for and posted on Brave New Traveler. And for more travel articles, photography, travel films, poetry and more please visit my website www.cam2yogi.com