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 Shiny Everyday American
I like shoes. Strappy sandals, kitten heels, flats and worn-in sneakers. It's all good. So off to the mall I went (without kids!) to scope out the spring selections. I walked through Bloomingdale's, hoping for a great sale. But what I found I didn't expect.
The floor looked coated with shiny lip gloss leading up to the make-up counters. Women in smocks fussed over the brightly lit displays, waiting for customers. Dozens of tiny glass perfume jars like little twinkly stars. So many choices, so much excess. I couldn't wait to get out of the store, shoes or not.
Why does there have to be so much?
Home to the Shire
When I first came home from Indonesia, I went through a bit of reverse culture shock. Like Frodo in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, it's true you never can go back to the life you once had in the peaceful shire. When you witness a Third World lifestyle, American excess is like a slap across the face. The painful sting of how much we Americans have never fully heals. Every now and then, I'm reminded of it.
A Tale of Two Supermarkets...
In a city like Ujung Pandang, there is what we would call a supermarket, but with closer inspection, there isn't much of anything super about it. Lots of non-perishable items with a long shelf-life, like Nestle instant coffee and ramen noodles. Travel into the countryside and the choices are even fewer. When we drove up to the mountains, we stopped at a roadside market that reminded me of those fruit stands open in the summertime back home. That's the Indonesian convenience store for Coke, cigarettes, rice, and fruit.
The supermarket 20 minutes from my house here in New Jersey recently super-sized itself–again. Not only can you get live lobster, organic milk and vegetables, you can purchase sushi, rotisserie chicken, and muffins bigger than your hand. I'm sure your local Super Wal-mart can do even better. If I want to buy clothes for my kids, I have to go to a separate store–a mere 10 minute jaunt up the road. If I need a missing ingredient when making dinner, I hop in the car to drive to our “roadside” store that is miles bigger than the Indonesian one.
And Two Christians
A girlfriend from church likes shoes as much as I do, so we're planning to go to shopping as soon as our schedules allow. As we discussed our girl's night out, I remembered walking through Bloomingdale's just a few days before.
“Does it ever bother you that this country has so much?”
“No,” she looked at me strangely. Why would I ask such a thing?
I can't fault her. It's the American way to have more than enough. We expect it, live with it, don't think much of it.
Faded
Most days, I'm not unlike my friend. I adore cute shoes. I also like eating those sweet muffins. Bloomingdale's may bother me, but I can go into Borders, Target or Applebee's and not give Indonesia a second thought. Those stores aren't as decadent in their presentation as Bloomingdale's, but the idea is still the same. We have so much here.
The slap of excess should still sting, shouldn't it?
As a Christian, I wish it would bother me more. And it seems to me that American Christians aren't too concerned of the disparity between Us and Them either. Part of me wants to stop and admire all the make-up in the glass case. But here's the thing about shiny glass surfaces–you can see your reflection staring back.
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Monica Brand, a former newspaper reporter turned stay-at-homeschooling mom who has been writing since high school, has been a Christian for most her life. She likes to read across a wide variety of genres (not just CBA authors). In addition to this site, you can find her at her own blog at monicabrand.net, Writer Interrupted, New Jersey Moms, and ACFW.com.
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