Fires We Don't See

I shopped at Target today with Dad.  Everyone knows Target.  Everything is there.  Well, practically everything.  Comfortable, clean, spacious.  Cheap, mostly.  We'd gone out for lunch and Dad was already tired by the time we walked from the parking lot to the store.  Just walking around to buy the things on our list was a challenge.  And yet, it was hard to stop.  I buy mostly online these days or at thrift stores.  I don't like shopping, I'm on a budget and I have a problem with waste. But going to Target was fun.  Look at all the stuff!  Such a mixture of excitement (really?  the charm necklace for my granddaughter was only $2.98?) and underlying questions creeping in about where the stuff is made and who it's made by.  What are the conditions under which they work?  I hate thinking about this - the answers are usually bad. Once you open to that kind of questioning, it's like a Pandora's box.  All the stuff you don't want to know can't be shoved back in.  I bought stuff.  I will go back and buy more. I continue to shop at Amazon, despite their terrible practices for their Camperforce.  I'm just waking up to what I'm eating, drinking, using, wearing.  My kids are way ahead of me and have been for years. And, of course, many many others.  There's the  myth of the ethical shopper , too.  It's confusing and valuable to begin sorting this out. We don't usually see the fires that burn us until they are too close.