Posted by:
scmd1
(
)
Date: June 23, 2018 07:22PM
Tevai Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> belfastgirl Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > People generally like to do business with those
> > who are like themselves and maybe thats okay.
>
> I was in Trader Joe's last night because I had run
> out of something I needed, and as I was going
> up-and-down the aisles, I suddenly realized the
> amazing diversity of the people around me--all
> doing the same thing, some with children of all
> ages, from infants up to near-adolescents, and
> everyone was being sincerely kind and thoughtful
> to each other. (It was within an hour of closing,
> and the store, which has a very small square
> footage compared to a supermarket, had way
> overcrowded aisles.)
>
> People smiled to each other, motioned others to go
> before them, moved their shopping carts without
> being asked to if the carts were blocking someone
> from getting to the products behind the carts,
> were verbally saying "Excuse me" and "Thank you"
> to each other...and most everyone was engaging the
> infants and toddlers in interactions: smiles,
> waves, saying "Hi!, How are you?" or "What a
> pretty shirt you're wearing!," and giving the
> running toddlers right-of-way as they raced up or
> down the aisles or within the produce section.
>
> Later, at home, I remarked that there had to have
> been more diversity on that small store floor than
> most people could imagine possible. It wasn't
> just that there was a mix of black and white and
> Asian, it was that there was a mixture of world
> ethnicities and world languages and (obviously)
> world religions: Polynesian and Sikh and Japanese
> and Hispanic and WASP and Catholic (one girl was
> wearing her school uniform) and the Indian
> sub-continent and black Americans...
>
> Everyone in Trader Joe's last night (and this is
> the usual situation) was comfortable with each
> other, not just "conceptually" or
> "philosophically," but physically comfortable with
> each other in VERY close, and often physically
> clashing, quarters.
>
> People were not just being socially polite, they
> were actively interacting with each other, often
> spontaneously helping each other, like reaching up
> for a top shelf item that an Asian (for example)
> couldn't reach...even though, because the store
> was overcrowded beyond normal, we were ALL "in
> each other's way" as we went about collecting
> whatever-it-was that we came in for.
>
> This is Los Angeles, and we have "everybody" here,
> and I don't understand why this same thing can't
> be the fact everywhere in the USA.
It's certainly the way things should and obviously can be, Tevai.