The Costco Perspective

On Monday morning I found myself at Costco getting some shopping done for my family. I knew it would be crowded in there, but I wasn’t quite ready for what I was about to experience. If you haven’t experienced Costco in the last week or so, the best I can describe it is a combination of the lines of Disneyland, the chaos of Black Friday at a busy mall and the general anxiety and agitation felt in a large international airport. Mix all that together you have the current Costco experience.

As I searched the store for the items on my list, a fellow shopper looked at my cart and observed, “I see you are stocking up as well!” Annoyed that he would lump me in with the folks buying 200 rolls of toilet paper for a two-week quarantine, I matter-of-factly replied, “Nope, I have six kids. This is just a normal shopping list for me.” I had no appetite for humor, no desire for small-talk and, as I watched the checkout lines slowly stretch to the back of the store, no time to waste if I was going to get out of there in time for an important appointment. I don’t like shopping anyway, but this was a whole other animal. I was not having a good time. I could feel my blood pressure and general irritation steadily rising as people bumped into my cart, ran their carts into the back of my legs and selfishly pushed their way through the crowds as if they were the only ones on a deadline and needing groceries. So much for social distancing!

Then I began to think of people in impoverished nations who must go for a hike several times a day, sometimes even for miles, just to get fresh, clean water. People who must gather firewood for an hour just to cook a small meal of meager portions. People who may not get to eat at all today because there is no food available. And that’s not just during strange times such as that we are now leaving in, it’s every day for them. It’s their normal life and there’s no respite. Much of their day is spent painstakingly gathering the bare necessities to survive until tomorrow. And here I am, standing in a heated building, nicely clothed, with a week’s worth of groceries sitting in my cart and I am frustrated by the inconvenience of maneuvering through a crowded store.

I am embarrassed by my attitude at times as we adjust to new routines during these recent days. I have so much to be grateful for, yet I am choosing to dwell on the negative rather than on my blessings. It’s a choice we all must make. We all have so much to be thankful for, yet we all have plenty of difficulties and even hardships in our lives as well. The question isn’t what will you experience, blessings or difficulties; the question is, which will you choose to dwell on?

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