[lit-ideas] Sunday Twofer
- From: David Ritchie <profdritchie@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 12:21:08 -0700
The subject today is economics, particularly the economics of distribution.
Who except the odd medieval historian knew that monks were good at marketing?
For example, whenever we, a party of university students doing time abroad,
headed north out of Grenoble, we'd try to plan a route that took us home past
the Chartreuse monastery. None of us had much relationship with God; booze
was another matter. What we wanted was a free nip in the tasting room. When
you have no money, free is really something. No one much liked the stuff, but
free was free. Here's the irony: I developed a taste for it and now pay good
money for a bottle. Score one to medieval herb gatherers, grasping their way
forward in the modern world.
You see classic free market consumption when you give chickens new food. It's
not exactly nature red in tooth and claw, the competition of the carnivore, but
it's not polite either. I'm reminded of how we played soccer when first we
were introduced to the game. The teacher chucked the ball into the middle of a
clot of small boys and stepped back, inviting us to have at it. Wee bundles of
energy, we ran all over the field, each trying to get our kick in; some of us
made contact with the ball, others with a shin. Like that teacher, this
morning I launched old toast and stepped back. One chicken grabbed the slice
from the sky and tried to do a Gerald Ford, running and biting at the same
time. He had better luck than the president; chickens are quick, and agile.
But as in rugby, the prize eventually fell and another chicken scooped it up.
Coming alongside like a jet tanker full of fuel, a third synchronized speed and
took a fast food peck. A fourth then crashed into both. A fifth stepped on
the downed bread and, colonizer on a very small island, crowed. Others
clustered round, pecking. Young and strong, none faltered. They gobbled the
island up.
David Ritchie,
Portland,
Oregon------------------------------------------------------------------
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