I will not be joyfully celebrating the end of 2023. 2024 is an election year. An election year means my mind will be invaded by even more well-financed influencers, along with the other influencers jumping on narrative bandwagons to siphon off dollars, hearts, and likes from the latest zeitgeist. THE DECISION. Here it comes…2024…pick a side!
Then look out for the opposition! They look like people, but they don’t understand the harm they are doing in the world. There’s really no sense in talking to them…they won’t listen to the truth.
Ah, election year cometh. Judgements abound. I stand in the dairy aisle before the selection of milk. There’s milk with a red label:
MILK: Heya pal! I’m cheap milk in a plastic jug. Well, I’m not as cheap as I used to be with inflation and all
G.A.: Damn it, milk! Must I always be bombarded by the political implications of grocery store prices?” [He reaches for the jug, then stops to look at the people behind]
MILK: Hold on, pal!
G.A.: [he lets go of the handle] Why?
MILK: If you buy me, someone will wonder if you’ll recycle my plastic. If you really cared about the ecosystem, you’d boycott purchasing anything made of plastic because even recycling plastic is not a real solution. It’s just a band-aid.
G.A.: Do you not want me to buy you? Is the person behind me anti-cheap milk? Is it your desire to stay on the shelf until you expire?
MILK: No, you’ll buy me. I’m not worried. You’re poor.
G.A.: I’m not so broke that I couldn’t spend an extra two dollars and get the milk with happy cows on the organic farm printed on the wax paper box!
MILK: Oh sure, you’re not too broke to choose the other milk. But if you buy that milk with the happy cows and the blue sky while you have your hair in a braid…guess what the checkout guy will think?
I couldn’t take it anymore. I bought the cheap milk because my sons are ravaging my food stock on Christmas break. There was little chance the check-out guy thought much about my milk preferences. His eyes were glazed over from hours of standing before the checkout, scanning barcodes and making digital chimes.
It’s too subtle. Yet, it's all so obvious. Most people don’t see their milk buying as a conscious political statement. However, the milk executives know there are enough people who will take their milk so seriously that they will indeed buy based on what “their side” buys because it’s the right thing to do. On the flip side, some folks will be God damned before they bought that blue box because blue box people are ruining America. This is how milk execs increase the profit margin enough to “earn” their cream. So long as we are told to “vote with your wallet,” someone will make a bundle. Our udders are ready for the milking.
My cheap milk will expire on January 15th, 2024. It will not endure a year of decision-making. Many of our relationships will not endure this year, either. Much milk will be spilled.
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