Not much appreciation left

Clothing prices are meant to rise by 10% this year, apparently due to higher costs for cotton (now nearly $2 per pound) and higher labour costs. So what? Clothing has been cheap for a long time. It's time to become more expensive, especially when it benefits the workers in the sweat shops or the cotton fields. That has not been said though in the media. The price for cotton has doubled but still does not seem 'high' to me. But we have gotten used to buying clothes for little money (unless you still have your brand name addiction but then the price is due to marketing expenses and the high salary of corporation managers) and we don't feel too bad about it. Just listen closely to friends and colleagues about the 'deals' they got. I remember the days where my mum sewed and knitted my clothes, a demonstration of part of the effort that goes into producing clothes. Made with love, priceless! It's completely different from just taking a piece of the rack in the next store, wearing it a couple of times and replacing it with something new.    

A tiny skinny colleague of mine has three sons. Her husband is just as tiny with 135 lbs. Her oldest son though is 15 and weighs well 200 lbs. 200 Pounds?! He drinks a gallon of milk in no time. They eat meat every day and buy 8 dozen eggs at a time because for breakfast she cooks a dozen. She goes shopping about 4 times per week. Obviously, they don't eat organic because it would be unaffordable. Still, I just could not believe it. First of all, a child of 200 lbs deserves a diet of fruit and veggies or so. Second, book you holidays on a farm and learn what it takes to produce all those eggs, all that meat, all the other things you eat (wheat for the bread). I think you will eat with a bit more brain! I believe supermarkets have made the availability of food too convenient - too convenient for people to actually appreciate what goes down their throat. Obesity here we come. This colleague likes 'Hot Dog day' at school because for one day per month she does not need to prepare lunches for the kids. Yeah right, but why did they not make it 'salad day'? I don't mind a hot dog once  in a while but I am not fat and eat  mostly vegetarian. For these kids I think it sends the wrong message though. Half the girls in grade 5 and 6 in my school are already overweight - at that age?! The last thing they need is another hot dog.