I sat in the ‘no outside footwear beyond this point’ section of my local rec centre. I was there for one of three weekly cardio sessions on the stair climber and treadmill. I had a good workout and felt nicely pooped, ready to sit down at home with a good book for an hour.

The man at the next bench made eye contact and commented pleasantly about the weather or Trump. You’d think I’d remember that broad distinction, but I don’t.

I responded equally banal.

For some reason, we were hooked, and we enjoyed a good 15-minute conversation even though we were dressed and ready to head home.

To cut to the chase, he recalled an expression he had heard, which was in the context of our conversation.

“There are no innocent bystanders.” He then went on to cement that powerful sentence.

“Ponder that for a moment.”

Whoa! That sounded like my Blog wrap-up ‘Bit of a think.’

So, I followed my own recommendation and gave it a think on my way home. I continued for a while, sitting in my recliner, not yet having picked up my book.

I considered it in light of my connections with people worldwide. Take my passion for coffee, for instance. I purchased my ‘house coffee’ from a local roastery. I’ve sampled brews from around the globe and ultimately chose his Ethiopian Dark blend. It’s dark, full of flavour, and carries little bitterness.

Mentally, I followed the supply chain back to Ethiopia. I could imagine a farmer picking the coffee bean to start my ultimate cup of coffee on its way. Using the ‘no innocent bystanders’ phrase, I wondered how fair the compensation was for the farmer. Did he get a fair price? Some coffee companies advertise that it is ‘fair trade’ coffee. That is supposed to mean that the farmer gets a fair deal. I pay attention to that factor when I buy coffee other than my preferred house blend.

For some reason, I ignored this filter whenever I buy my Ethiopian Dark.

I try hard to align my values with my behaviour. I get it right most of the time, but not always. Sometimes, I knowingly don’t align up and protect myself with a thick skin of rationalization. An example of that is deleting my Amazon account to help support the Canadian tariff response. While at the same time, I stubbornly refuse to delete my Netflix account.

Returning to my coffee preference and whether my behaviour aligned with the ‘no innocent bystanders’ principle, I needed to discover how the farmer in Ethiopia was treated.

Please, please let my findings be that he is treated fairly. It will take some time to find those details, and I wanted to write this Blog before the serendipitous meeting faded from my memory. I’ll post my findings in a future Blog.

I’m on the hunt!

Please give this a bit of a think. Can you think of an example when your values and behaviour were aligned, or were not aligned?

I am curious about your thoughts. Please comment below with your bit of a think.

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Volunteer Blogger

glenn.walmsley@icloud.com