Moral Dilemma

"Continuing our theme of participating in things that leave us with moral questions..."

"Oh, yes!", I thought, as I read one of my favorite travel blogs, Bumfuzzle. I was taken with this statement's perspective. Along our travel route, both Ed and I had noted the moral dilemma of where to shop. Where to spend our money.

Because of our personal values, over the years we have avoided shopping at Safeway, Starbucks, Walmart, McDonald's, Home Depot. In fact, we shunned all the big corporate chains. Traveling, we find our resolve weakening. Shopping dilemmas pop up when we're faced with bewildering traffic and no local knowledge. In our boggled state of travel confusion, we too often settle for the line-up of chain stores on the edge of town. They are easy to find, convenient, and their branding tells us what they are. Just yesterday we were looking for a grocery store and pulled into Maurice's, thinking that name, Maurice, sounded like food. We still don't know what Maurice's sold, but not food.

On home turf, avoiding the big chains in favor of locally owned businesses is a snap. With our local knowledge we can conveniently indulge our moral stance. When traveling all our good intentions are tossed out Thistle's window. We still want to support the small local entrepreneurs, but finding them is a treasure hunt. Add hot, tired and befuddled to the equation, and taking-the-easy-road becomes a driving force.

"Look", I say, "There's a Safeway!" Both Ed and I melt with relief.

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"Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect."

Mark Twain

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