There is creative compassion seeping through the new cyberspace of our present experience. Midnight, now illuminated by a thousand laptop screens seeking openings to queue up a delivery time for the local supermarket, any supermarket, becomes the new homemaker business day. This, the first adjustment to maintain that sense of normality before the Great Isolation invaded our sense of purpose, is our new shopping Saturday.
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The local farm I pass every time I make my way to the big box halls of commerce is now the victory garden again, and no-contact delivery behind the front door replaces the personal over-the-counter exchange with the friendly neighborhood checkout associate. Top-quality kale at top-dollar prices, touched only by finely scrubbed hands.
My house has never been so clean — that is, when I can still find bleach and soap and lotion to heal the scaly skin of my hands using that bleach and soap.
These are difficult times, but they present an opportunity for a connection I failed to make during the pre-Isolation Era. Frustrated by web delivery services with openings weeks in advance, I went right to the source, the maker of things and products, and found a new source of inspiration. Thoughtfulness and creativity soothed my angst and healed the addiction to free shipping.
I ordered tea. I received an email regarding the status of my order. It read,
Dearest John,
I am writing to confirm your order has, indeed, shipped. And by that I mean it has boarded one of our finest 18th century ships and is sailing across the seas of time to your doorstep.
Warmest Regards …
I believed them. I wanted so much to go there in that time when we made things instead of serviced a process. I did not click and go. My tea order connected with every anticipated day that passed before delivery. So alluring was this bond that I pledged to keep my tea experience pure by taking it without the adulteration of milk or sweetener.
My steaming cup exhaled its winter spice aroma as I read another email, this from the local farm:
Dear John,
Your order is on its way and your produce will soon be making your kitchen a happy place. Thank you so much for your support. Hope to see you at the farm.
Be well.
A product pledging emotional bliss, friendly connection, and an invitation to its natural factory redefines the tenets of commerce.
It is certainly worth the price of shipping.
