Today, as I was walking Tinni (with Shadow on board), I again thought about how we have so much and others have so little. Our meals, right now we are eating what we grew. The chickens are molting, so they aren’t laying eggs, but this is no big deal. And Swampy the milk goat continues to produce enough for Pete to grouse about having to make cheese.

We have hay in the barn, and hay pellets in the tack room. We have livestock feed in the goat shed. And, we have more than enough books.

The potato harvest

And yet, there are those out there who do not know where their next meal is coming from. Worse yet, there are parents who do not know where their children’s meals are coming from. What gives?

Tonight, I talked with Milena Savigny who works for TOTE, is the public relations person, and she said that because of the federal vaccine mandate, that there may not be enough longshoremen to unload incoming ships. My wheels turn, but they turn slowly – it took me a while to figure out that this means that there are going to be shortages of various types. Not that it matters to me, but many items may be holiday related.

This got me to thinking – many who are used to, and take the concept of abundance for granted, are going to be worse off than those who have for some time been dealing with scarcity. This is because those who have had access to food, clothing, and the like, will have a harder time going without essential goods. This is because having it all has made such individuals soft around the edges.

I pause, in order to think of the implications of this. Scarcity will bring out the best and the worst in people. This could prove to be a hard-earned lesson. What? No presents under the tree? Unfathomable, that is until Christmas morning.

Those who will fare the best will be those like us, who spend their money wisely.

I can easily get by with mismatched socks with holes in them. And, when it gets cold, I’ll eek another year out of my Refrigirware suit.

I suspect that most have no idea that Alaska has a port, and that this is where goods coming in and are unloaded and shipped state-wide. And they have no idea that they’ll be inconvenienced. I would like to think that parts for snowmobiles and ATVs will be hard to come from. One can only hope.

When Covid first hit, none of us foresaw that this would be a consequence.

And what do I think about the mandate? To me, this seems like a governmental extreme. I think instead, that people should be offered vaccination incentives. For instance, having a raffle in which the vaccinated winner gets $49,000 is a wonderful idea. I had no idea this was going on until today, when Pete said that we’d soon be eligible for the early bird raffle.

Unreal. My talk with Milena gave me a lot to think about.

Next: 289. 10/19/21: Backwards Thinking