We can sound smarter...really.

A large portion of my job is typing what people say into a little box to kind of give an idea of what happened in a car accident (if you’re reading this and you don’t know me, I work for a large insurance company as a claims adjuster). One day my old manager walks by and asks me why I type everything in Word and then transfer it over to our narrative box.

“I like to make sure that everything I type is spelled correctly.” He thought it was a good idea. I still do.

When I read what people write and their words are misspelled, I really do get the impression that:

1. These people don’t really care about what they’re trying to communicate, or
2. They’re not as educated as I would have hoped or imagined, or
3. They are as educated as I imagined.

Of course, spell check doesn’t catch everything. As I was reading through the Blogosaurus Rex I noticed that I typed “but” instead of “buy.” I am by no means what one might call a perfectionist, but grammar and spelling are areas that I can be pretty snooty about. You might imagine how embarrassed I was by this grammatical gaffe…or not.

In any case, I mention this for a few reasons as will be numbered below.

1. We live in an era of ubiquitous, liberated, and public discourse by means of inexpensive publication, and yet so many of us write as if we were illiterate. I’m refuse to complain much upon the point, but consider this a shepherding hand pushing you towards the usage of your own spell-check. If all else fails, remember (for those of you who are putting your junk out on the blogosphere) that there is a button with “abc” over a check mark – this is a spell check provided by blogger.

2. I have been utterly dismayed by the fact that a few of the last books I’ve read that are put out by Christian publishers have been filled with misspellings, inaccurate and improper quotations, and poor grammar. WWJD? He would use better grammar, or at least a better editor.

3. It’s hard to take anyone seriously who doesn’t take the time to take themselves seriously.

I’m not really all that angry about it. The real fact is that I have a writers block and I don’t know what to talk about this Sunday. I do, but I don’t. What a horrible predicament.

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.

X really can't afford anything in Homewood...

In a recent conversation, Laura and I were talking about a report she had heard on NPR regarding China, Wal-Mart, and the practices to bring low prices to consumers (if anyone has a link to this, I’ll post it here). The fact of the matter is that the last time I went to Wal-Mart was probably the last time I’ll go to Wal-Mart in a long time (we’ll just say I got a free oil change out of the deal).

You see, it’s easy for me to say I won’t go to Wal-Mart. I’m not rich, but I can afford to shop somewhere else.

I raised this comment and question during our conversation: it’s easy for us (and many of our friends) to despise Wal-Mart and their practices, but what about the single mother with children who can’t afford to go anywhere else?

In fact, Wal-Mart and other big box stores allow people who have nothing to enjoy many of the luxuries that people with disposable incomes are allowed to enjoy. The general argument against Wal-Mart and their practices is not usually very comprehensive. This raises quite a dilemma since the problems of people aren’t necessarily met with a template answer.

One of the arguments against Wal-Mart is that they aggressively destroy the local competition in certain geographies. In retaliation, many set forth the somewhat popular mantra “Buy Local” (in our area, there are even billboards up that advocate purchasing from outlets that sale Alabama produce).

There’s a bit of a conundrum here – at least where I live.

Near where I live, there is a community (or municipality – they have a city hall) named Homewood. 18^th Street is filled with popular local shops, has a couple of local grocery stores, and quite a few local restaurants. 18th Street is considered local and it runs down the middle of Homewood. We like to shop here on occasion because it is a sort of unique place to go and it’s “quaint.”

An average person in our United States (especially in that impoverished state of Alabama) cannot walk into Cahaba Cycles (local bike shop) and buy a $500 Trek 18 speed Mountain bike. Your average Alabamian doesn’t have the disposable income to walk into Tria or Red Rain (local grocery stores) to buy fresh, organic, locally grown produce. It is certainly unreasonable for someone struggling to get by to walk into O’Henry’s (local Coffee Roaster) to purchase a pound of coffee for $12.

What makes Wal-Mart successful is that it takes what’s popular in food, clothing, sports, or electronics and makes it available to everyone…everyone.

Wal-Mart and other Big Box stores are the great equalizers of sorts in our economy.

The truth is that you can’t just eliminate Wal-Mart without also developing a solid plan to combat poverty in an area. Remember, Wal-Mart isn’t making places poor, they’re going to where the poor, or needy, or bargain savvy shoppers already are. What makes our argument so weak so often is the same argument levied against us (referring to myself and others like myself as Christians) in abortion – that is, we care for the unborn child until they are born.

Now, the problems are exponentially larger than first imagined. We aren’t only referring to temporary corrugated metal buildings raping the landscape and laying wasted to natural areas in their development of seas of concrete to accommodate the traffic in their respective stores, we’re also now speaking of bringing dignity, availability, and purchasing power to those who have none.

A further argument may be that purchasing power is a product of the consumer culture.

Again, the products I purchase from Tria in Homewood, or V. Richards in Forest Park are going to run me about 4 times what they would at Wal-Mart.

In this case, it is no longer about sustaining a consumer culture, but about providing food on the table. Unfortunately, your local produce or shop or restaurant probably cares nearly as much about the bottom line as Wal-Mart does – that’s the truth of business.

The argument is just too often simplified. There’s more to say on the matter, but it’s late and my wife is probably angry that I’m spending time on the computer rather than spending time with her.