Grocery Shopping Diaries

Now is the time, more than ever before, that we need to be connected. Not the fake, virtue signal of, "stay connected" that Google, Facebook, Zoom, and woke politicians pushed on us. No, online connection is not, and will never be the same as a real life interaction with our neighbors, our communities, and our state. The current cost of living calls for real life connections, not fake ones.

The internet is a glorious place to make connections. You know the spiel about the wonders of the internet. It's a place where people from all over the world can meet, interact, and develop life long relationships. That's all fine and dandy, but there are drawbacks to the sort of connections you can make on the internet, especially with how the internet is used on a day to day basis.

The internet is a frontier of anonymous strangers, where people can say, do, or be whatever they want. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but the world in which you immerse yourself in doesn't have the same rules as you would in real life. Honesty, for instance, is a choice less taken, because there aren't many consequences to dishonesty. Lying, pandering, grifting, and deception are not policed on the internet because it's not a real place. The internet is a place we created with our imaginations. With that logic, the crimes on the internet are just as imaginary. How would you prosecute an imaginary crime?

Maybe the internet will become a more virtuous place, where lies and deceit will wane, along with the other unmentionables of the internet. I'm not counting on it. I'm not saying it's a lost cause, and I do believe it has the potential to be better than we ever thought possible. I'm just saying that the "connections" we make online do not meet my standards, the standards I hold in real life.

What I'm saying is that we need more than the internet. Rent, gas prices, and inflation are at an all time high right now, and my family (my husband and my dog) feels it. What strikes me the most is the powerlessness of it all. My deductive skills have led me to the conclusion that our government has directed us into this economic crisis, and they take absolute zero accountability for it. The Biden administration has force fed us like babies, "Here comes the train... CHOO CHOO" that all of the economic troubles are because of "Putin's Price Hikes." I'm not here to change your mind about your politics, but this is a bunch of malarkey.

And I wonder... How do we the people get our power back? How can I take up space again, without dodging red tape, and minding my mouth?

We can't get anywhere if we remain separate. We don't know our neighbors anymore. We don't have block parties, barbeques, and we don't borrow cups of sugar anymore. The one thing I despise the most about the internet is that it helped lock us inside for almost three years, isolating us from reality. The internet didn't quarantine us from a virus, but bad actors and virtue signalers on the internet did. If you still believe that covid was worth it, you do you baby. I never did, and I don't, and I will never think the Covid witch hunt was worth it.

Now everyone in America is facing the effects of exuberant government spending, and terrible policy making. Whether you believe in the "Putin Price Hike," or if you've been paying the least bit attention, we regular people can feel the cost of living getting heavier and heavier on our shoulders. I did not agree to change my name to Atlas, or Sisyphus, but if I'm going grocery shopping tonight I minus well pick my favorite name, and roll with it.

I don't think we are entirely powerless. The only way to combat the corruption and the lies of our overreaching government is to connect once more with our communities. We need to remind the government that their power comes from us. Their paycheck comes from our will. No more will they ignore the will of... us. We vote local. We pay attention to the mayor, the sheriff, the school boards, our senators, and our governors. If they don't listen to us, then they don't represent us.

We will remind the paper pushing bureaucrats that we stand with our communities. We will remind the red-tape dispensers that we aren't easily manipulated, that we do pay attention, and that we aren't powerless. Americans can get tribal. Let's show them how tribal we can get when it comes to supporting our neighborhoods. The power of family, friendship, and community outreach is what we can hold onto when times are tough. I don't think relationships online are enough. We need both. We need to connect with the world, and we need to connect with the people who live next door.