Our daily bread comes to our doorstep in
the morning. On a bicycle. The man who brings it is just one of the many
vendors sent out by the many small old world bakeries that dot the city we live
it. They’ve held on in the face of competition from the big guys and the array
of different breads in the supermarkets. We don’t buy from him every day
because I get enough for a few days and freeze but I do know people who wait
for him every morning so they can have that hot, crusty bread for breakfast.
Maybe the loaves don’t look as symmetrical
or as perfect as the ones in the stores but the freshly baked smell is to die
for. Even when it comes out of the freezer, all you need to do is thaw it for a
bit, slice and toast – and you’re in bread heaven! There’s a choice – small
loaves that are soft and melt-in-the-mouth, crusty loves that are soft on the
inside, puff pastry squares that are delicious with tea, flat breads that have
such a wonderful flavour, buns with sesame seeds scattered on top and they taste
divine with a dab of butter.
The thing is, how long will our bread man
survive? Will the younger generation continue to buy from him? Or will he fade
into a ‘the way things were’ memory? Will high-rise gated societies and huge
supermarkets take away his livelihood? Whose responsibility is it to see that
not only does he survive but keeps doing better? It just has to be our
responsibility. I’ve realised that electing leaders and expecting them to do
anything for anyone just doesn’t work anymore. Politicians are a
number-crunching breed apart whose only worry is where the votes come from and
how to get them. Not for them the headache of seeing that our taxes go to help
the unfortunate ones amongst us. So that leaves us. And if we pull together, we
can be a force to reckon with.
Why promote the small businesses around
you? Because in the long run, it means you are shaping your surroundings to
become better. By supporting people like the bread man and helping him earn his
livelihood, it means his family eats better, his children get educated and they
have enough to stay healthy and happy. Without that, what does a man do to feed
his hungry family? Can you blame a man turning to crime?
When the oft-used phrase Think Global, Act
Local was used in a business context, it meant that multinational giants were
putting down roots at the local level to improve their bottom line. What we
need is an upturning of that system. What we need are local roots that need to
be nourished so we need to think local first. We need to become more aware, we
need to spread the word and if need be, we need to make it fashionable to buy
local produce and to encourage the small people in business around us. If we
need things around us to change, we cannot wait for a faceless government to do
it for us. We need to do it ourselves. So it empowers us as much as it does the
ones at the grassroots levels around us. When we empower the microcosm, the
macrocosm will automatically get better. Our positive actions with a local
focus will only help us act better in a global sense.
For me, I’d be happy to continue seeing
that smile on the face of my bread man and the many like him.
