With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Last night I attended a General Assembly meeting of Occupy Las Cruces. It was a delightful surprise to see so many enthusiastic people especially young people not only in attendance, but leading the way. I found the group to be well-mannered, open and receptive, caring and compassionate, and all directing their energy toward social change from the bottom up.
We discussed the coming Walk-Out at NMSU at noon today and the Walk on the Banks on Saturday at noon. It seems the University has privatized many services, including the bookstore, and many if not all of the food venders are now fast-food chains. I did not know the university turned its bookstore over to B & N. And Bank of America, aside from leading the way on foreclosures, has instituted a five dollar a month surcharge on debit card users.
So, Occupy Las Cruces has taken up the responsibility of calling attention to these issues and I plan to join them whenever possible. Engaged Zen is not about talk, it is about doing.
It seems to me that over the last two decades in particular, corporate America has been silently and secretly stealing our money and enriching itself. Deceptive advertising, shrinking quantities in packages while raising the price of the package, are all contributors to our felt poverty. Greed is a poison. We see it when a bank decides to profit from a person taking his or her own money out of the back, money that the bank is earning interest on as it rests in your account. Banks have decided, like other industries, to charge for absolutely anything and everything they can. Want a cup of water at McDonald’s? Costs a dollar. Want an extra ketchup packet? You have to pay for it. My bet is that the price points on the menu include the condiments so when you pay for that ketchup the company adds to their margin at your expense and you think its only fair because ketchup isn’t free.
Nothing to get up in arms about? Every package you buy today has had the quantity reduced and the price raised: coffee, detergent, packaged foods. Yet wages are at an all time low.
Something is clearly wrong with this picture.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
Last night I attended a General Assembly meeting of Occupy Las Cruces. It was a delightful surprise to see so many enthusiastic people especially young people not only in attendance, but leading the way. I found the group to be well-mannered, open and receptive, caring and compassionate, and all directing their energy toward social change from the bottom up.
We discussed the coming Walk-Out at NMSU at noon today and the Walk on the Banks on Saturday at noon. It seems the University has privatized many services, including the bookstore, and many if not all of the food venders are now fast-food chains. I did not know the university turned its bookstore over to B & N. And Bank of America, aside from leading the way on foreclosures, has instituted a five dollar a month surcharge on debit card users.
So, Occupy Las Cruces has taken up the responsibility of calling attention to these issues and I plan to join them whenever possible. Engaged Zen is not about talk, it is about doing.
It seems to me that over the last two decades in particular, corporate America has been silently and secretly stealing our money and enriching itself. Deceptive advertising, shrinking quantities in packages while raising the price of the package, are all contributors to our felt poverty. Greed is a poison. We see it when a bank decides to profit from a person taking his or her own money out of the back, money that the bank is earning interest on as it rests in your account. Banks have decided, like other industries, to charge for absolutely anything and everything they can. Want a cup of water at McDonald’s? Costs a dollar. Want an extra ketchup packet? You have to pay for it. My bet is that the price points on the menu include the condiments so when you pay for that ketchup the company adds to their margin at your expense and you think its only fair because ketchup isn’t free.
Nothing to get up in arms about? Every package you buy today has had the quantity reduced and the price raised: coffee, detergent, packaged foods. Yet wages are at an all time low.
Something is clearly wrong with this picture.
Be well.
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