I had an experience
with a merchant today that set me off.
Like many Americans
I live hand to mouth after the middle of the month. Returning
cans is a necessary part of my household economy.
Today I went to the
store I go to almost everyday to buy a six pack of the 2nd lowest priced beer
available.
I figured it out.
Multiply $6 times 360.
$2000 dollars a
year is approximately what this merchant stands to lose for not taking back my
cans.
I had 50 cans the
maximum he and the state allow to be returned.
One of the cans a
neighbor had given me.
The merchant called
me on it because he, the merchant, didn't sell that beer.
The state law required him to give me the money back.
It was my right and
I did not need to be informed the can had not been bought in his store.
It did not matter.
Possibly I over
reacted.
I said to him.
"Do you mean
your not going to take my cans back?"
And I left my daily
6 pack on the counter, took my cans and left determining that he
would never get another dollar from me.
Problem is I like
the people, they're immigrants and hard working
people up against the wall trying to stay alive
just like me with
all the cards stacked against them...
just like me.
But his willingness
to pick out a can not sold in his store was not legal.
He was obligated to
give me a refund.
I'm willing to
forgive him.
I like the guy and his wife.
But this was wrong.
As I think about
this I realize it was my economic extremity which provided the impetus for my reaction to
someone I liked doing business with.
If the money didn't
matter to me I would have shrugged it off and thought nothing of it.
(I need to address
this with him which means me eating crow)
But you know it's
hard not having a dollar in your pocket
and having to
return cans to get a little relief from the reality which society and poverty imposes
on ones soul can be humiliating.
This is my
experience after having worked my whole life
providing taxes for
the continuation of a society
that at the end
turned its back on me.
So I'm a little
bitter about that.
I'm sure you will
be too when you discover
it has happened to
you.
Oddly the bible
recognizes the necessities
this kind of
situation imposes on the victims
and provides a
remedy.
Where is that bible
thumper Mike Pence arguing loud and long for beer for the poor?
Do you hear him?
My feeling is he
has a problem with implementing that part of the bible.
Hanging Gays is OK with Mikey Boy
but beer for the
poor,
no way!
We have lots of
beer
and not so many jobs.
Come on Mike you're
making God look bad.
So what am I
saying?
I must not be so
rash is one thing
because the
merchant and I are in a life and death struggle with the same foe.
I must know my
rights.
You must know your
rights.
I must defend my
rights.
You must defend
your rights
if you and I wish
to have them as rights.
I must be
compassionate in the defense of my rights.
If each of us were
this way,
forgiving but yet
requiring justice,
how would that work
out?
Think about
compassionate justice.
How would that work
out?
I came home with my
cans.
A friend bought me a 6
pack after seeing how I had been treated and when I got home
I sat down and drank it
and in the process
wrote this.
but you know, it's
not a solitary howl,
it's a chorus
and those singing
make up most of the people on the planet.
I
have an idea.
Organize
the
Dispossessed
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