Can the poor go to their Maker with
a clear conscience after buying cheap food or goods?
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| transitionstourbrifge.co.uk |
With the cost of living rising, people
on a low income naturally choose the cheapest products. The money they save
stretches their limited funds. I
understand their plight. Yesterday, my husband splurged on a bunch of red roses
for our 24th wedding anniversary. We married in our late forties and have
shared so many adventures through the years. He wants to care for me now that I
can hardly walk, and delights in cooking wonderful meals. Now, here's the rub.
We have to buy the food put out at special prices from week to week.
The poor might have scruples about
how animals are treated, but what can they do? They have to survive.
Their decision reflects on the
Earth's resources. Producers cut corners to make their goods competitive.
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| www.daliyrecord.co.uk |
In the U.K. employees took Amazon to
task over poor pay and working conditions last week. They earned 1p over the
national average. Today, the news has revealed that security staff harassed German
workers at Amazon. Their poor working and living quarters were shown on a
television program. This could be how the company offers good prices for its
products.
Cutting corners.
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| advocacy.britannica.com |
The same thing could be said for
food in the U.K. Chicken meat is reasonably priced at the moment. When I worked
and brought in a good pay, I insisted on buying free range products, assured
the bird had room to run and peck in the soil under the open sky. Now retired
and living on a pension, I consciously turn my head away when my husband
chooses cheap products. No matter how much I wish otherwise, I am forced to
join the masses. This encourages the practice, yet I have to eat and live a
harmonious life with my husband. Even when we both brought home a salary, we
argued about buying a product twice the price of another.
The scales must reach a balance.
Cheap prices drag quality down, which lowers our compassion for other living
things—crops, trees, animals and people.
And there is the moral dilemma. I'm
acting against my conscience for the sake of personal survival and marital
harmony. If single, I'd choose a vegetarian diet. But I pray my husband and I
will live together for many more years.
