The other day I found myself listening with a mother’s concern to a radio story about a young woman struggling to get by on a minimum wage income in the Pacific Northwest.
She was living in her parents’ basement after graduating from college, and the only work she could find was low-paying. Meanwhile, she had student debt to pay off. My heart went out to her when she began to weep about how difficult it was to maintain a healthy diet on her budget.
But then I heard her mention that her biggest problem was that she could no longer afford organic produce, and she felt this was ruining her health.
At that point, my sympathy for her evaporated, to be replaced by exasperation.