Saturday, January 19, 2008

I guess I'm a hypocrite too

While meandering the endless aisleways of Target looking for gifts for my eco-savy 12-year-old neice I noticed this shirt dangling amidst a sea of t-shirts sprayed with various catch-your-eye phrases:

As you can imagine, the cynic in me was dying to leap out. Support organic farmers? Since when has Target, of all places, been concerned with organic farming or supporting anything unconventional. The wave of questions was lapping at the shores of my brain. However, I was able to manage my cool and nonchalantly took a peek at the tag on the inside of the shirt. Ha! What hypocrites, I thought to myself, the shirt itself isn't even organic, therefore purchasing it would defy the very phrase printed on the shirt, which is the initial appeal for purchasing it in the first place. In order to buy this shirt one would have to be a hypocrite, I concluded. I then decided that Target must simply be marketing to a particular segment of the population. Another shirt nearby contained the phrase "Think Global, Act Local" which also nurtures its own sort of hypocrisy in that in order to act locally, one would not be shopping at Target. I turned, disgusted, and continued my errand run. However, I couldn't just leave it at that. Something was eating away at me, "Am I a hypocrite for shopping at Target?" I mulled this idea about a bit and came up with 1,001 rationalizations for why I am not, in fact, a hypocrite. I do the best I can...maybe if I was a billionaire I would never shop at Target again, commit to local products, and only buy organic food and clothing, but I'm not. So, therefore, I shop at Target and purchase products, like this shirt, that relate my ideals but don't necessarily support them. I guess I'm a hypocrite too.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

New Year, New Blog

Out with the old, in with the new! Trying to clarify my purpose for blogging, minimalizing my life, and trying to stay connected.