A Fast Food Memory

I remember on EVERY school trip off island the first question out of every kids mouth was "Where are we going to eat?" The chaperon's would stand at the front of the bus and call out, "McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's" and tally the votes to come to a destination in a fair manner.

Burger King and McDonald's were most popular. Burger King had crowns that we could wear around all day if we wanted and McDonald's had play houses. A lot of the students didn't even LIKE the food here, but wanted to go for these amenities.

The toys in the Happy Meals/ Kids Meals! It wasn't until about fourth or fifth grade that we discovered we could REQUEST the toy we wanted and if the employee was feeling nice that day they'd give it to us!

I'm thankful that the island community looked down on fast food chains, and corporations. Growing up the only fast food chains we had were one single Subway and one Dairy Queen and a few A & P's. The Subway only lasted a few years, closing because of health code violations, and I believe the Dairy Queen just closed last year because their lease was up. A&P of course was bought out by Stop & Shop a few years ago, and now all locations are sarcastically referred to as "Stop & P"'s.

One thing I hated about Stop & Shop taking over the A & P's was that although the A & P was a corporation, it was island managed and run. When Stop & Shop moved in they started importing employees (and providing them with housing!) which took away jobs from the locals.

Today I try to be more aware of what I'm supporting and what the physical/psychological repercussions can be.

Contemplation...

My friend introduced me to this coolsite. By clicking on the links it donates money to various charities (similar to the idea on blogger that some of the students were getting excited about). It donates a very small amount with each click, but this is the interwebs, and we can spread information fast and far.

A thought passed through my head while I was clicking on the breast cancer page. Cancer charities. Why don't all of the cancer charities unite to start working against harmful chemicals known to cause cancer? You know, like those chemicals in our clothing and our foods and leeching into our water supplies?

When a computer gets broken down, do you know where the parts go? China. That's where they leech out their cancer causing chemicals. But who cares? Right, it's just China.

Carelessness and inefficiency needs to be reconciled with, there is no excuse for our illogical actions and inability to coexist.