why, sam, why?

i don't like wal-mart. i've been trying very hard to not use the word "hate", mostly because i believe words are powerful and i have a strong desire to surround myself with the positive forces in life. therefore, i am refraining from using the "h" word when referring to wal-mart, although it is quite tempting. it's not that i don't love a bargain and wal-mart is full of bargains, but when i used to shop there, each time i walked through the doors, i felt like a little bit of my soul was dying.

did you see that tv special about the indian women who sew the track pants for wal-mart? did you see how they work 17 hours per day and still can't afford meat? did you hear the part about how when the owners of the factory asked wal-mart for $.01 more per pair of pants that wal-mart threatened to never use this factory again? and how wal-mart sells these track pants for $12 each after they pay oh, $.33 each to the factory?

this is one of the reasons why i don't like wal-mart. when they claimed to sell only products made in america i didn't dislike them so much. then i just disliked them for overtaking small businesses in rural america and then refusing to pay the workers a decent wage or give them benefits.

someone i used to work with told me to get off my high horse and admire the walton family for running a profitable business that epitomized the american dream. and that statement couldn't have hurt me more than if he punched me in the stomach. it hurt because i know that he was right, in a way. but i had always held the american dream to higher standards than that. apparently, i am naive.

so...at lunch yesterday, i went to wal-mart with a friend who wanted to check out their fabric selection. she was looking for blues hockey fabric (don't ask). while we were there she also needed to pick up pictures from the photo processing area. i discreetly wandered around the camera department so she could enter her debit card p.i.n. privately.

and...that...is...when...i...saw...it.......the $79.84 digital camera.

i have been coveting, lusting, strongly desiring, a digital camera for a long time. i NEED one. it's not just that i want one. i NEED one (please note use of all CAPS...i don't like to type in all CAPS...that is how strong the NEED for a digital camera is!) so the good angel on my right shoulder is whispering in my ear, "heidi, do not stoop to the low prices of this greedy conglomerate. you can find an inexpensive digital camera elsewhere...perhaps at the purportedly religiously-owned walgreens store." while the devil on my left shoulder is shouting, "get the damn camera. the indian woman you saw on that tv special didn't sew this camera. grind your liberal axe over something worthwhile!"

just for the record...it wasn't as if the camera was lousy either...it had 3 megapixels and 4.0 optical zoom. why must the universe test my resolve so?