Accentuating the Positive on they 14th Day of February Love, I'm Simply Going with Simplicity (Serenity) of the Fig Newton

This is a simple story really. Somehow on Saturday, after picking up my bib for the Run for Refugees race, I stopped at Big Y and grabbed items to sustain me for the week, including a sale item which is very rare...money off of Fig Newtons.

Now, Fig Newtons were a staple in Papa Butch's lunch diet (as were Snicker Bars) and my mother was faithful of packing them every day for my father. As I grew older, and hungrier, the very snacks that my father enjoyed became ones that I favored, too. I would sneak them when I could (but mostly got caught and yelled at). 

It wasn't until I was on my own and had to pay my own grocery bills that I understood why. These are not cheap products. In fact, Fig Newtons are on the more expensive side of cookie-delicacies, and I grew out of the habit. This is why I was surprised they were on sale this week and cheap. I threw them in a cart, and forgot about them, but yesterday when I had to sprint to campus, I packed a couple with a banana, some almonds, and an apple. I ate them on my way in and instantly smiled. Fig Newtons are good.

And they made me happy. I kept channeling them meeting after meeting, stress moment after stress moment, as I realized I'm working on the impossible like so many of my colleagues, trying to host optimism along the way. As my anxiety and stress rose, I kept thinking about my lunch - those Fig Newtons - and I realized, "It's all good. At least this week I have a different cookie than I usually offer myself." 

That, and Dr. Campbell brought me a molasses cookies from the Pantry. How could I not be happy?

I keep thinking that there are economists and social theorists much smarter than me who have been studying the exploitation of the labor force for centuries. Colonial empires who wanted to put the riches in the hands of the elite were scolded some as societies advanced, but there remains an administrative class who wants to get the most out of the work from the fewest employees possible so that they reap the benefits of wealth (I think about Veruka Salts's father having his factory workers dig into Wonka Bars so that his precious daughter could stop her whining and keep her authoritative brattiness....hmmm...sounds sort of familiar in many cases today). 

For now, I will channel the Fig Newton. I love it. It make me temporarily happy. And for that I'm thankful. Today begins at 7:30 a.m. and continues until 7:15 tonight. With this noted, employers still act as if employees aren't doing anything. It is something...

...again...something that is way above my pay grade, unless I choose to go into administration so I, too, can do the same, which is very, very doubtful.