Dear Editor,
We should pay more for our groceries so workers can get a raise. I’m thinking especially of the workers at my own favorite store, by far, the Market Basket in Claremont. The management and team there have worked their heads off to keep the store clean, safe and well-stocked – steep challenges lately.
I think of the baggers like Emile, Herb, Cathy, Patrick, and Louise, always friendly and helpful while they handle thousands of pounds of groceries, on their feet all day every day. What a great service they have done. And they’ve been nice to us all this time, when maybe we weren’t at our best.
Most of all, these good people have served us without quitting or getting to work from home or collect unemployment. They’ve risked their health. They’ve kept the rest of us going.
To my family, they are true heroes, the ones who “stand in the gap,” like the Bible says: And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. (Ezekiel 22:30)
These workers are standing in the gap. We should pay a bit more for our groceries so they can get a raise. What about a two-cent surcharge on every item in the cart, for a start? Going straight to workers. This is the very least we can do.
Thank you, Market Basket workers, and all who stand in the gap.
Sincerely,
Sean Whalen
Weathersfield, VT