Taking a walk

In the past week I have twice done something I don't recall doing in years: I walked to the grocery store. I am sure that seems utterly mundane and unimportant. But as I walked back this morning a number of things started to cross my mind.

One of the things that bugs me most about us Americans is not just our sense of entitlement (as bad as that is) or our sense of indulgence (as bad as that is) but our sense of entitlement to indulgences! What most of the world can not even dream of, we complain about. Think about that the next time you're in a long line at a grocery store. You just spent the last hour (or whatever amount of time) in a clean, dry, air conditioned store with literally tens of thousands of products of every imaginable variety catering not only to your every need but your every desire. Much of the world will go hungry tonight. I remember hearing a story once of a foreign exchange student who visited the United States from a former Soviet bloc country. When the host family took the student to the grocery store, the child thought that it was democratic/capitalist propaganda because the store was so full of so many things. He or she thought they had set that store up just because they were visiting from a communist state, and it took time for the student to realize that was what normal life looks like for us. I have heard of missionaries who have returned to the States and literally became ill when they started to enter a store because they couldn't handle the transition back to such material abundance. I am not saying this to make you feel guilty. (I'm a conservative so this can't be liberal guilt.) Instead, I hope it will simply make us more thankful and generous. (And for crying out loud, please at least take your shopping cart back when you're finished instead of leaving it in the parking lot. You just spend an hour pushing it full around the store; why can you not push it empty a few more yards back to the cart caddy? That is so lazy and rude.)

The other component of this is the matter of walking. It is really striking to me how much our entire society is centered around the automobile. I would encourage you to try walking to the grocery store at least once. Granted, you probably can't do this if you're married with three kids in diapers. But especially if you're single it should be do-able for some things. (Both times I was just buying milk and fruits and veggies.) There are a number of advantages to this. For one, it's good exercise. Secondly, it saves you gas money. Third, you'll likely spend less on things you don't need since you have to carry it all back. Fourth, it's better for the environment. Fifth, it reduces traffic congestion. Sixth, it puts you more in touch with your community when you walk its streets and sidewalks. I'm sure there are more, but I'll leave it to you to share the ideas.

Again, the issue of indulgent entitlement came to mind. Who are we to complain about $3 gas when we have two or three cars outside (one of which is likely to be a gas-guzzling SUV)? Haven't we at least partly brought this on ourselves? It is considered almost unpatriotic to say that we need to "tighten our belts" and cut back to conserve energy. (God bless you Jimmy Carter.) We need to question that assumption.

Again, I am sure my hypocrisy here knows no bounds. There are many ways I can do better. This is something I am just now becoming more aware of. The fact that my motivation for walking was as much due to the fitness challenge at work than anything else reveals the privilege of my position. But can we consider how to use that privilege to be wise and to be a blessing instead of always indulging ourselves?