Yesterday morning as I ran errands I stopped by Mas x Menos,
a local grocery store. I walked in to
discover that every senior citizen in Desamparados was there, or at least it
felt like it. It all made sense when I remembered it was Wednesday and that meant
it was it was Miercoles Fresco (Fresh Wednesday), which meant daylong specials
on various items throughout the store.
Half of the time they are nothing to write home about, but the other
half they have some great deals.
Yesterday was one of the days they had some great deals. The best one was fresh boneless, skinless,
chicken breast for 2,950 colones per kilogram (about $3/pound), the usual price
is 5,100 colones per kilogram (just over $5/pound). So since we tend to eat a lot of chicken and
have freezer space to store it I bought 5 kilos of chicken breasts.
Due to some recent events at our ministry sites, preparing
for our fall semester program, and the constant desire and quest to be more
effective (whatever that means, but that is a blog post for another day) in our
ministry sites I have been thinking a lot about poverty and the various cycles
we see repeated in the communities we work in.
As I drove home from Mas x Menos I started to think about the little
things that made it possible for me to take advantage of a good deal. Little things that make a big difference,
things that I have in my favor that many of my friends, here, do not.
I was able to get to the store to take advantage of the
sale. Transportation is something we
tend to take for granted until we don’t have it. I like to remind our student teams that being
able to ride the bus is often a privilege.
Owning your own car is a never realized dream for many. But the fact that I drove to the store meant
that I did not have to think twice about how I was going to get the 11 pounds
of chicken home. I certainly would not
want to carry it and the other items I purchased as I walked to the bus stop,
climbed on the bus, fumbled for change to pay the bus, stood up on the full bus,
and then walked from the stop to my house.
After all they don’t make those plastic grocery bags as strong as they
used to!
I knew that we had room in the freezer to be able to store
the chicken until we needed it. I also
knew that while money tends to be tight these days we had enough in our bank
account to be able to make this unplanned purchase that will in the long run
save us money. Forget living paycheck to
paycheck, I have been reminded lately how many of my friends are living moment
to moment not knowing where the next meal is coming from. Many of them would have been thrilled to get
one chicken breast, let alone 11 pounds.
There are probably many other “little things” that combined
to make it possible for me to buy that chicken.
Little things that don’t seem like a big deal like transportation,
freezer space, and a few dollars in a banking account, but that make a big
difference. So often as we walk
alongside people the world has forgotten I want to make a big difference or do something
that will drastically change reality for people I have come to love
dearly. But yesterday as I put the
chicken in the freezer I found myself thinking, “How can we empower someone
with something little, that will make a big difference?” --Jeff
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