General Manager
Why I Still Love My Job
written by: Gail Graham
I have started driving the speed limit–a small thing, and at first glance, inconsequential. I still maintain that driving fast–responsibly of course–is a right of mine, and that most speed limits are arcane. But I can no longer shake the image of the engine greedily sucking down the gas at those higher speeds, and that conjures up the image of the polar ice caps melting quietly, one ice crystal at a time. I can no longer ignore that small contribution my lead foot was making to global warming.
Some days I think it would be juicier to wave the flag of the big issues; to spend my time on important work. It’s a big world and we have so many big issues; global warming, war, famine, poverty, injustice, ignorance. And I, well, I am just a grocer. But in the quiet of the morning as I sip my tea before my public day begins, I manage to find my way back to my passion, and I remind myself of why I care.
We often associate the power to create sweeping change with prominent people: our politicians, our policy makers, our leaders in business. But our world can also be shaped by everyday individuals who take action on a local level. And change starts with taking action on an individual level. Humans have a special privilege on this planet; we are gifted with the ability to bear witness. To bear witness, to stand up and speak out, is a necessary step along the path to advancing change. For nearly 30 years our co-ops have borne
witness to the underlying problems in our food production and distribution system, and slowly we have created change.
Too many Americans still don’t give much thought to food, other than whether they like it or not. Yet we are impacting our world profoundly every time we raise a fork to our lips. We don’t think about the “agricultural inputs” it takes to produce our food, or the fossil fuel used to transport it to our local market. We don’t think about top soil erosion, water
pollution or toxic runoff when we are biting into a juicy strawberry. We don’t think of the farmer who can’t continue to afford to farm, because farmland is becoming increasingly attractive and being taxed at higher rates.
We just don’t think of those things. We think of taste, of health, of cost, of convenience. We think of menus, of portions, of leftovers. We don’t think of global warming, of the energy crisis, of the plight of the family farmer. Yet each of these is profoundly affected by our food choices.
Eating is a commonplace everyday event that unites us all. Food nourishes our soul as well as our body. It is celebratory. It is nurturing. A meal is a place of communion, a place we can share our love as well as our bread. Food is connected to our spiritual, our physical, our environmental, our political, and our community lives. Thinking about our food, making choices that support what we care about, can be a powerful force in creating social change. As we grow to appreciate the profound complex connectedness of food with the important issues of the day we can learn to bear witness in a culinary fashion; we can serve up delightful dishes using fresh, local foods, and quality organic products, and share with our friends and families the delectable results and the intentions behind our choices. We can talk about food in a new way.
“We don’t eat at places like that,” my granddaughter recently shared with her friend as we drove past a fast food joint. “My grandma only stops at restaurants where they serve good food.” She’s learning.
