Diversity

Blue Island certainly is a diverse community. Not only in the ways have we commonly thought of diversity either. Most of us think of Blue Island as Black, White, and Hispanic, but we go far beyond that. Chinese, Arabic, Egyptian, the list goes on and on. I met a woman from East Africa in traditional African clothing one day while walking to work. A woman originally from Mongolia stopped in the store.
The diversity of religion is evident, too. Catholics, Methodists, Lutherans, Baptists, Evangelicals are everywhere. A Muslim man was spotted on a prayer rug early one morning. I’m sure that there are atheists here, too. It’s hard to tell because they don’t have churches or public displays of non-worship, but I’m sure they’re here.
We embrace all of this; at least most of us do. What worries me is our lack of shopping diversity (you had to know that this was coming). I first noticed this years ago when I had what I refer to know as a “real job”. I had purchased a summer top from Kohl’s and wore it to work the very next day. Within a week, I realized that two other women had the same top, but in different colors. Now, I have never been one to panic if I was seen in the same outfit as someone else, but this was the beginning of my awareness of bigboxitis.
Bigboxitis is a disease which compels us to run to the nearest big box store whenever we detect a need in our lives. We become unresponsive to mistreatment and lack of service. It makes us slaves to price and convenience instead of value. As for the summer tops, within a month they were all misshapen blobs of faded fabric.
The monetary price we pay for bigboxitis seems small, and that is why it is so addictive. The personal price is far greater. Despite the fact that these places appear to be time saving and convenient, how many of us feel more time deprived than ever? Do you feel more connected to the community or less connected than you did five years ago? Shopping in town increases the chance that we will see a neighbor. Knowing the business owners makes us feel connected. Stopping to chat makes us feel that we know what’s going on in the community. Spending our money here supports the entire community, not just the business owners. It brings in jobs and tax revenue.
We are born with our ethnicity. It cannot be changed. We are born into our religions, we can change that if we choose. But, regardless of our innate diversity, we should patronize independent businesses or soon we will all be dressed in the Croft & Barrow uniform of sameness.
Just as in other aspects of our lives, we have a diverse group of programs we can subscribe to in supporting local business. You can go with my $5.00 a day plan, you can check out the 3/50 Project, you can pledge to 10PercentShift.org. They are all good ideas, and any of them, together or separately, will make a big difference to Blue Island.

Candace Carr
CARR home-garden-holiday

P.S. As far as I’m concerned, Hellman’s is the only “real” mayonnaise. Now that the Jewel is closed, you can find it at Family Dollar Stores, 2418 Vermont Street.