Daily life provides a valuable crucible for practicing the Dharma. The most mundane occurrences can be the impetus for insight into the real.

Recently the Price Chopper (PC) grocery store in the Village of Chatham / Town of Ghent went from a relatively small scale store to an upgraded, roomier and more aesthetically pleasing supermarket adjacent to the old store. There was a fair amount of impassioned discussion by the local residence regarding the plans and implementation of the new PC. I had mixed feelings and followed the controversies in the newspapers and discussions that ensued.

Some argued that Chatham did not need a larger market, much like the one's found in the suburbs (a dreaded concept, especially for the transplants from urban and suburban areas). The old store was 'homey' on a scale that fit our small village. In the current era it was retro, the aisles required a tango to navigate, and certain departments were not as visually alluring as they might have been. For some of us who remember the old A&P on Main Street and the grocery where the current Rite Aid is located (I forget its name) the former Price Chopper was a welcome improvement.
There was also a concern for the employees who were going to be relocated to other stores, a distance from Chatham. New, fresh faced and probably not local people replaced and added to the familiar associate staff. We think of ourselves, not without cause, as being family and labor friendly. We liked the sociable faces we have seen for years, people that we knew and to whom we felt we had a personal relationship. Not like those suburban superstores where product display and marketing are more important than the people who provide the services. The new store pushes a lot of buttons.

I suspect that the Price Chopper Corporate offices saw a need to upgrade and expand their presence in an area that has become more affluent in the last several decades. Due to upscale competition nearby the new store was both a symbolic and business necessity if the organization was going to continue in this area. In the end we do need a grocery store.

My reaction to the new store on Grand Opening day, when Shumon and I did our regular grocery, provided a useful awareness of the five Skandhas. As I strolled the spacious aisles, encountered expanded product lines and experienced the vision of advanced marketing that is required to increase market share I felt a loss and excitement at the same time.

I was thrilled to see a fresh bakery section with products that I have longed for when seen at the other stores. Desires are so ubiquitous. A new, orderly, attractive, frozen foods section leapt out and entertained my eyes in spite of the fact that with the exception of ice cream and some vegetables we seldom buy anything from this section. The vegetable department is larger, with more product tastefully displayed, though I don't know that there is anything there now that was not there before.

There was a smattering of familiar faces. But when checking out at the registers we are separated from other shoppers, I can't look over from register five to register three and mention to Tom that I'll see him in a few days, or ask a sangha member to remind me to mention something on Wednesday evening. There are so many people whom we know by sight, but not by name that make our village of human scale. They are no longer as visible.

We all know that business decisions by corporations, even family owned and local, will usually prevail over our local sentiments. Knowing that impermanence is one of the three marks of the human condition we none the less experience loss when even commonplace change occurs. We are attached to people, places, ideas, right and wrong. Something as simple as a new grocery store involved all those attachments. I observed my emotions arise and the thoughts develop. The links of dependent co-arising were clearly delineated.

As improbable as it may seem Price Chopper and all the phenomenon around it provided me with a dharma lesson. Be aware of all the opportunities to practice the mindfulness..

Love and Gassho . . . Monshin