I am admittedly not much of a city person or a highway driver. I prefer the slow and go of the backroads. I enjoy looking at the scenery as I drive to my destinations. But, this morning, I drove through the inner city on my way back from a doctors visit. It made me sad to see the sheer poverty of it all. The closed businesses, and the run down buildings. It made me think, how do we get here? How do places like this end up in such dire straights? how do we fix it? Can it even be fixed? The first thought that came to my mind is — this is just business as usual.
Who is to blame for things ending up this way? I brought this up in discussion, with my husband, after arriving home. We talked about a little grocery store up the street from our house, owned by a neighbor. My husband talked about how they will let produce rot, instead of knocking down the price before it does. That is when I chimed in. Maybe we all are to blame and just do not want to say so, or take our part in the responsibility. Pointing the finger is so much easier, isn’t it?
First thing I said, was the small business person has to get better at finding the balance between earning a living, and doing right by their customers. Why not, knock down the price so the food doesn’t go to waste? Then again, waste means loss, and loss is good for writing off and lowering taxes. Broken items go back to distributors, who guess what, write them off as a loss on their taxes. And up the chain it goes.. Shaking my head, business as usual.
The second thing I said, is people need to support their local businesses, instead of going to the big stores and paying a cheaper price. And while I am talking about big stores, how did we end up in an era, where we say that businesses are to big to fail? How did we get to a place when a business requires a bailout from a government formed by the people, for the people? I suppose we can view it all as neighbor helping neighbor. Of course we are helping the employees, our neighbors. But, who is making the decisions, that are bringing about the failures? and where are they in the fixing process? Where is their financial, or otherwise, sacrifice for their bad decisions? How do they walk away with large sums of money?
And what is the governments part in all of this? Setting laws that may hinder competition, that have people creating losses to avoid taxation, that allow a business to become so large that its failure would be devastating, or that create laws that help one fraction of society – while hurting another. We just had a changing of the guard, so to speak, here in America. It was brought in with a call for unity. I will do what I do with every changing of the guard, have hope, give them opportunity to act, pay attention, etc.. Still or already, we see protestors causing destruction in multiple major cities; Portland, Seattle, Denver, etc.. I am saddened for the people who live in those cities, and wonder why it continues. When will it not be business as usual?
I am not much for a big anything. I think the bigger something gets, the more it is about its own survival and control, then it is about the service to the people. With that said, I suppose, I do not have any of the answers, and would like to depend on the goodness of us all to bring about change that needs to happen. Some of us taking risks again to follow our passions with a business. Some of us supporting that person in their endeavor. Some of us helping with clean up and rebuilding. Some of us kicking back crime, instead of letting it continue. Maybe finding new ways of punishment. You destroy a business, you help rebuild it. I hope one day our inner cities can flourish like they once did with small businesses. Maybe one day we will find a way to get there. What I do know right now, however, is business as usual is not working.
I suppose that is my thought on the subject, feel free to leave yours. Please try not to be critical, instead be constructive. Maybe all our minds and hearts together can find the solutions necessary. Until next time – peace out – love to you all.