The mother of misunderstanding…

Without context, what we say and write and communicate seem to be bastard children running on empty streets looking to place meaning somewhere. I thought about this on a plane ride from Atlanta to Birmingham.

Without context, there is no content.
Without content, there is no meaning.
Without meaning, there is no purpose.

The greater conversation here is about the existence of God. He provides the context that moves us (eventually) to purpose in our lives.

I find, however, that I must first apply this argument to what some have referred to as my bashing or my tirade against Wal-Mart. So now, I place forth the context to sort of try and realign the content – unto meaning, and then unto purpose.

My desire was not to bash Wal-Mart. The context is that there is this argument amongst some circles (often heard on my favorite radio station in B’ham - WBHM aka NPR) that Wal-Mart is bad. The argument continues that Wal-Mart destroys the fabric of neighborhoods and the culture of geographic locales by chasing out small business. So then, those who argue the evil of Wal-Mart say, “Down with Wal-Mart.” There are more facets of the argument, but for simplicity’s sake, we’ll leave it here.

My response to the argument is that “Down with Wal-Mart” is a fine and dandy argument…for those who can afford it. My point is precisely that it is easy for us who have the financial means to shop elsewhere to say that Wal-Mart has the capability to destroy our cultural fabric, but it is much harder from the point of view of those who have no alternative. The whole idea is that the problem of Wal-Mart is multifaceted and when we don’t think of the people who need to shop there, then we do them a disservice. Buying local is not always an economical alternative for lower income families, and that’s just the fact of our modern economy.

I hope this clears up the muddy waters some. I don’t think it will, but I can hope.