The grocery store of the future
October 23rd 2007 12:00
It's post apocalyptic. There's a bunch of rednecks toting their guns talking about something to do with doing stuff for god and for country. There's a bunch of hippies who think they have attained global consciousness and feel they are living in harmony with the earth, they have merely come to fix their connection tower, which is a radiotower, but it is a live tree. There are some previously great corporations, finding going a little tough without all their privileges.
You shop at the local grocery store, but it is not indoors, it is not on a street, it is not out in the open. It is a patch of the woods where all sorts of foods are grown. A small pond surrounded closely by some tiny trees, the whole area is covered with what looks like a morning mist, indeed it is quite cold over there, and that is where all sorts of cold fresh vegetables are growing there. The whole area is a bunch of different micro-climates, each with a budding bounty of delicious delights, all abuzz with the movement of the shopers, human and non-human alike. There are some gluttons who never leave. But this is not any shop you would ever recognise, indeed if you went there you would not know you were in a shop. You would look around and see everybody eating and carrying things about the shop, but you would never see anybody pay for anything.
How can animals go to a shop? isn't that what you are thinking? because they can't pay, they wouldn't know to pay, they just take.
WRONG!
Contemporary Humans are the ones just taking and not paying. We hand each other some plastic like giving it to another person will pay for what you are taking. No, the animals pay, they do some work, they give something in return, they help someone down the chain, they are part of the system, they are not just taking food, they are making sure there will be food in the future after that one is gone.
But not the humans shopping in this grocery store, they have learnt the rules, they didn't try to teach them to the other animals, since the other animals already know the rules of the store, nonetheless the signs around the entrances remind them of their agreement. The humans had built the store, had grown the trees and landscaped the whole area. But they did not ask to get paid. In fact, building the area was their payment to everybody else, their payment for the right to live in the forest and eat off the earth. Their payment for being in the system is to make it better, increase the flow of energy, maintain, support and allow life to prosper.
Old people still go up to the counter as they are leaving with their pickings, as if they are going through the check out. The people behind the counter recite the agreement with them "We enjoy the privileges of this garden by agreeing to never take without improving the place in some way." They share with eachother guilty glances. They sheepishly walk away with their shopping after reciting the agreement with those behind the counter, they still feel they must hand some money to someone. They feel as if they are stealing. But they have nowhere else to get food, the supermarkets are in tatters, prices are high, inventory is low and fighting is a regular occurence. They leave, telling themselves that they tried to pay but the hippies didn't let them, they did twice the recomended amount of diging, they always do, they think it is a test, they feel they must be generous to prove that they are not trying to rip off the situation, despite the fact that they still intrinsically feel as though they are stealing.
The younger ones don't even bother with the counter. They know the rules, you don't have to go there, its just what the old people do because they feel guilty, none of the animals go there, you don't have to report to anyone, you spread some seeds, you grab some fruit, once you took a possum to the vet. They don't even think of any of these as a chore. Do the animals which eat the fallen fruits think the are doing a chore? Are they cleaning up rubbish? or are they shopping for food?
I wish I could direct a movie with my mind, I think the image, and it appears in the minds of the audience.
You shop at the local grocery store, but it is not indoors, it is not on a street, it is not out in the open. It is a patch of the woods where all sorts of foods are grown. A small pond surrounded closely by some tiny trees, the whole area is covered with what looks like a morning mist, indeed it is quite cold over there, and that is where all sorts of cold fresh vegetables are growing there. The whole area is a bunch of different micro-climates, each with a budding bounty of delicious delights, all abuzz with the movement of the shopers, human and non-human alike. There are some gluttons who never leave. But this is not any shop you would ever recognise, indeed if you went there you would not know you were in a shop. You would look around and see everybody eating and carrying things about the shop, but you would never see anybody pay for anything.
How can animals go to a shop? isn't that what you are thinking? because they can't pay, they wouldn't know to pay, they just take.
WRONG!
Contemporary Humans are the ones just taking and not paying. We hand each other some plastic like giving it to another person will pay for what you are taking. No, the animals pay, they do some work, they give something in return, they help someone down the chain, they are part of the system, they are not just taking food, they are making sure there will be food in the future after that one is gone.
But not the humans shopping in this grocery store, they have learnt the rules, they didn't try to teach them to the other animals, since the other animals already know the rules of the store, nonetheless the signs around the entrances remind them of their agreement. The humans had built the store, had grown the trees and landscaped the whole area. But they did not ask to get paid. In fact, building the area was their payment to everybody else, their payment for the right to live in the forest and eat off the earth. Their payment for being in the system is to make it better, increase the flow of energy, maintain, support and allow life to prosper.
Old people still go up to the counter as they are leaving with their pickings, as if they are going through the check out. The people behind the counter recite the agreement with them "We enjoy the privileges of this garden by agreeing to never take without improving the place in some way." They share with eachother guilty glances. They sheepishly walk away with their shopping after reciting the agreement with those behind the counter, they still feel they must hand some money to someone. They feel as if they are stealing. But they have nowhere else to get food, the supermarkets are in tatters, prices are high, inventory is low and fighting is a regular occurence. They leave, telling themselves that they tried to pay but the hippies didn't let them, they did twice the recomended amount of diging, they always do, they think it is a test, they feel they must be generous to prove that they are not trying to rip off the situation, despite the fact that they still intrinsically feel as though they are stealing.
The younger ones don't even bother with the counter. They know the rules, you don't have to go there, its just what the old people do because they feel guilty, none of the animals go there, you don't have to report to anyone, you spread some seeds, you grab some fruit, once you took a possum to the vet. They don't even think of any of these as a chore. Do the animals which eat the fallen fruits think the are doing a chore? Are they cleaning up rubbish? or are they shopping for food?
I wish I could direct a movie with my mind, I think the image, and it appears in the minds of the audience.
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