whole truth

having now visited at least 7 whole foods organic markets in 5cities i'm even more confident in my assessment that the most beautiful, kind, and interesting people can be found in a whole foods market in any city lucky enough to have 1. if you're not a whole foods shopper by choice than i'm sorry for you and you probably don't care or understand what i'm talking about. if you're not a whole foods shopper because there isn't 1 in your town than i'm sorry for you and encourage you to walk into the store at your first opportunity to see what i'm talking about. if you are a whole foods shopper than you likely already know exactly what i'm talking about, but i'll go on anyway. in a conversation about this with sweet trini years ago, her immediate response toward my calling whole foods patrons beautiful was "duh, crazyfool. of course." and, of course, she is right. duh crazyfool... the most beautiful, most kind people would be those trying to remain as pure as possible by eating+using organic foods+products and eliminating toxins from their bodies+lives. eating+living more naturally makes for a better, healthier quality of life and thus invokes beauty+energy, i get it. i suppose after finding the same to be true over+over again, including here in new orleans i figure it was time to post the theory to get it off my mind. some people don't understand the whole foods concept and thus never get spending a little extra money for healthier living. "why would anyone want to spend $3 on a lemon?" is the question i've gotten before. the same person told me they felt like whole foods was "some kind of cult of eco-freak" and perceived the patrons as egotistical; "as if they're better than me because they shop organic." i argue however that what some may mistake for elitism, isn't at all, but is instead a common respect between customers+employees alike which comes with smiles, head-nods and the occasional banter in passing or waiting to check-out. (i often feel i can even tell which employees believe in the principles of their store and which just do the job for the paycheck.) the respect held for each other mirrors the respect we each hold for our planet; understanding the give+take relationship between mother earth and ourselves which is at least part of the reason for our continued visits anyway, right? organic/green living is often a huge life-choice that we eco-freaks welcome the fondness of feeling surrounded by people who supposedly think like ourselves particularly when we could easily be saving $ by following the flock down the street to the local supermarket, or worse, wal-mart. strength in numbers; each of us feels good about trying to do our part to keep the world beautiful and even better realising we aren't the only ones putting forth the effort. the world appreciates our effort and returns the favour, thus whole foods patrons are beautiful people. talk soon.