Making the Effort to Improve

NESTLE'S iNC., and the Wal Mart Corp are plunging headlong into the future. The giant food comapny is removing all artificial additives from its products, and entry level Wal Martians will begin earning nine dollars an hour, rather than the customary seven twenty five. Truly, this is progress, for which we all should perhaps be grateful, even if in the back of our minds we ask: "what took them so long"? Replacing artificial ingredients in food with natural ones has been an increasingly popular idea, as society has been rethinking the proper place of high tech chemistry in the food chain. Many big companies, such as Kraft, have already gone natural. The proper wage for workers has been an even hotter topic of late, with most people seeming to agree that current wages are generally too low. The asnwer to 'what took them so long" could be as simple as recognizing the inherent conservative nature of human beings. We tend to dislike change, and the people who advocate the most change are usually angry, and desperate. Healthier food, better pay for workers. It really seems rather obvious. Both of these changes involve greater expense. Prices may go up at Wal Mart, and prices may go up at nestle's. More expense simply means more effort. It has taken effort to make cars safer, and it will take effort to clean up the environment. Low wages, artificial coloring, and spewing waste thoughtlessly are simple. If only we lived in a world in which improving quality required no effort!