I have a confession to make. I kind of overstocked the last time worldwide supply-chain disruption was predicted.
What can I say? I can be a worrywart.
I’m sure I could live on bread and water for a good long spell, or even just water. I could call it a cleansing fast and act like I’m on a spiritual retreat.
But other household members are not so resilient, or so I believe.
It is for their sakes that I just bought a whole bunch of stuff to top up the shelves of the Armageddon closet.
Sounds like a good excuse to me, anyway.
*****
Maybe I don’t need an excuse. Maybe shortages are imminent.
“Several industry groups have warned world leaders of a worldwide supply-chain ‘system collapse’ due to pandemic restrictions…governments need to restore freedom of movement to transportation workers amid persistent COVID-19 restrictions and quarantines.” (1)
The article continues:
“‘All transport sectors are seeing a shortage of workers, and expect more to leave as a result of the poor treatment millions have faced during the pandemic…’”
This article was published in a more-or-less conventional newspaper, The Epoch Times, which fact probably prevented them from additional speculation (aka indulging in conspiracy theories) on why workers are leaving their jobs.
Since I have no trouble with the notion of conspiracy theories, I mentally fill in the blanks: these US workers have been poorly treated for well over a year. Now the poor treatment has ratcheted up with the Biden mandate that the majority of American employees must receive “vaccines” in order to keep their jobs. It’s quite possible that the shortage of workers represents those declining the forced jab dictate. (2)
Frankly, I think it’s a wonder that anybody is doing any work, anywhere, at all.
*****
My appreciation continues to grow for those who have worked without surcease during this long, strange trip. I marvel that I still see the same faces behind the masks at Trader Joe’s, week after week.
I’m also incredibly thankful that I get to soothe the fretful aspect of myself by stockpiling some perceived necessities. Cat food, litter, medicines. Food and paper goods for the humans.
If I were living on the razor’s edge of solvency, as so many are, I would not have the luxury of buying a bit of excess “just in case.”
I assuage my slightly guilty conscience by reminding myself that I could become a provider for friends or neighbors who didn’t have the means, or perhaps the forewarning, to stick a few extra cans and bags of this and that into the back of the cupboard.
We never know how, or when, we might be of service.
*****
The most interesting aspect of this second round of stockpiling is what I didn’t buy—cookies or chocolate caramels and suchlike. I certainly stocked up on them over a year ago, in the first throes of massive uncertainty and fear and lockdown.
Perhaps it’s part of the stripping-away of falseness that we may be undergoing. Perhaps the sugar-craving persona is ready to release me and allow me to adopt a more adult, spiritually mature presence. I’d love to have such a satisfying benchmark of spiritual growth.
Or maybe it was just a fluke.
Either way, I appreciate the nod to good health evidenced by the nutritious contents of the Armageddon closet. And if a bag of M&M’s jumps into my cart next time, I won’t scold myself.
I’ll treat it as part of accepting what is in the moment, and endeavoring to nurture myself, whatever my choices turn out to be.
(1) “Workers who maintain supply chains warn of worldwide ‘system collapse,’” Jack Phillips, The Epoch Times, September 29, 2021
(2) New information in an analysis from Scotland supports the perspicacity of workers declining the vaccine. “Further evidence proving the Covid-19 vaccination programme is a huge failure has been released which confirms throughout the whole of August [2021] 80% of the people who allegedly died of Covid-19 had been vaccinated against the disease.”