As You Sow, So Shall You Reap

I've been in Memphis the last week, and while I'm not an expert, I feel we are as close to a full-scale societal breakdown in parts of the U.S. as I've ever seen. It could be two or three weeks away. I hope I am wrong. I've been sick most of my time in Memphis, but when I have been out, what I see in the poorer parts of town are lines of cars out into the street at every fast food restaurant I pass. These lines are abnormal even for a city that loves fast food and had to have it during COVID. They were twice as long as when I was here in 2020. People were waiting in line for over an hour at the local McDonalds. One hour and 12 minutes, to be exact. I know this because the lines seemed so abnormal that I sat outside and timed it one afternoon. The next day I went inside a Starbucks around 1 pm as I wanted a tea, and the line of cars for the drive-thru was out to the street. This store's area is so poor they did not get a Starbucks until a few months ago. Having a Starbucks open in your neighborhood is an essential metric of growth. It was a bustling suburb until white flight in the 80s when everyone moved to the deeper suburbs. It's been bleek around here since then. Things have turned around a bit since Amazon announced they are building a distribution warehouse around the corner. It's going to be manned by robots. There would be no Starbucks in the area without the robotic Amazon warehouse opening up. When I entered, there was no product on the shelves. When I asked if they had anything to eat, the woman told me they had everything, but she was the only person working since 6 am and had not had time to put anything out. I asked her why and she said everyone was out sick with COVID. When I tried to have breakfast today at a decent place in midtown, all 30 tables were full, and there was an hour and a half wait because there was only one waitress as everyone else was out with COVID.

As someone who studies and takes courses in disaster preparedness, I know the average family near the poverty line doesn't keep much food on hand. Those near the poverty line might keep a week of food at hand, but it's closer to two or three days, and fast food plays a big part in their eating habits. Many kids in this area go to bed hungry. The lack of employees due to COVID is bad enough, but December is also the last month for Tennessee's enhanced EBT/Food Stamp benefits. Tennessee opted out of continuing the federal assistance program as their "State of Emergency Order" ended in November. I know someone receiving $290 a month during the pandemic, and they will go back to receiving their $79 per month in January.

When I took my sister to Walmart to pick up a prescription, I took a peek into the milk section, and there were only of couple of gallons of milk left where it usually has at least a hundred. The rest of the grocery area was just as sparse. We are about to see a country with no one able or willing to go to work, supply chain issues at grocery stores, and a large part of the population suddenly without the financial support that allowed them to feed their families over the last two years. It's going to get messy.

There is a disaster happening right before our eyes, and we could have prevented it.

Shame on those of you who refuse to do their part to protect the most vulnerable in our society. You are about to see the results of your selfishness. As you sow, so shall you reap.