So this isn’t world peace or nailing the Federal Way City Council majority for yet another fiasco (surprise, we can’t afford the community center, watch your taxes).
However, recently, in our fine hometown paper, The Mirror, someone wrote a very thoughtful contribution for us to consider: The benefits of reusing grocery bags, i.e., plastic, paper and cloth, and the benefits are said to be many. I have umpteen bunches of each bag type myself. Their reuse endorses the “green” philosophy, saves money, saves the landfills and energy — and truly, I had also come to the recognition of the wonderful benefits to us all.
But one day, noticing the bags I had on the floor and under the seats of my vehicle, I was pushed to reflect a bit. Remembering that only the soles of our shoes generally touch the floors of our cars, certain thoughts began evading the good feelings my assemblage of reusable bags had just given me. In fact, several of them hit me like a Mentos in Coke. For instance, all the varied and unappealing things I had seen hit our sidewalks. All the good and kind animal lovers walking their dogs so they (the dogs) could leave evidence on the sidewalk of being well fed. That gave me a sort of yea/boo feeling. God’s cheerful chirpers, the birds, competing happily with the dogs. I’m sure by now you see where this is going.
Where else, among almost 90,000 people in Federal Way alone, have these bags been and what else have they possibly carried? The point being, do we really want all of the bags sitting on the check-out counters where our groceries are placed? Does anyone believe we’re all going straight home to unload our food and promptly clean and disinfect each and every paper, plastic and cloth reusable bag? I can’t possibly be the only humanoid in the area to have arrived at this conclusion. It seems the proof of this is the total absence of all the recent chatter and hubbub.
It seems the idea just quietly picked up its skirts and tiptoed out of the public air. And, let me say, if you dwell on the scenario I gave, I have a hunch you’ll come to the same hope. That we continue to watch our wonderful check-out persons at, in my case, the superior Top Foods, open up those brand new crisp paper bags or the so-new-they’re-stuck-together plastic bags and shelter our food within. I recommend we continue appreciating how lucky we are in our food stores, and don’t think too long and hard on my images or you’ll get the squeemies! I sure did.
And I’ll close with another elbow to the city council majority’s collective rib: We can’t afford the community center? Hey! Spend a million dollars to reformat its function and — voila! — we have a performing arts center, which its proponents guaranteed would be self-supporting and profitable. Wow! Another problem solved!
Clara McArthur, Federal Way
