There are two new “dollar stores” in my town, and a new large one in the community where I work. I’ve never been in one although I have to say I am curious about how a store can sell everything for one dollar. And evidently, in spite of their names, dollar stores have items that cost $10 or more.
Dollar stores are usually placed in low income neighborhoods where people can have easy access. On the stretch from Plainfield to Bound Brook, there must be at least five dollar stores, walkable by people who don’t have cars; two are conveniently placed to green grocers because dollar stores don’t have fresh fruits and vegetables.
Whole Foods, on the other hands, is usually located where you have to have a car to shop there. This makes us think about the future of work in the midst of rising infections and how the disparity between the well-off and the severely impacted has grown. As a nation and a society we are faced not with a tale of two cities but a tale of two nations.
Prayer for the Day
Horizon of hope, whose boundaries are never fixed,
Reveal your Spirit to us, let her enter our souls.
Infinite Creator, who breaks into our lives when we least expect it,
Remove our reticence to be bold and daring.
Impart to us the possibilities of a new community
By bringing us into a deeper circle of love and care.
We ask this in the name of him who shows us what is possible,
Even Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Our idea of what constitutes social good has advanced with the procession of the ages, from those desperate times when just to keep body and soul together was an achievement, to the great present when "good" includes an agreeable, stable civilization accessible to all, the opportunity of each to develop his particular genius and the privilege of mutual usefulness.
Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor under FDR (1882-1965)
We want a better America, an America that will give its citizens, first of all, a higher and higher standard of living so that no child will cry for food in the midst of plenty.
Sidney Hillman, Amalgamated Clothing workers of America (1887-1946)
For the word of the Lord is upright, and all God’s work is done in faithfulness.
God loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord
Psalm 33: 4-5