The genealogy of shopping

History majors in general are prone to writing redundant boring narratives. If you have the misfortune to let yourself be dragged through dense writing weighted down with peripheral facts and dates you will understand the tremendous effort on my part to skim this thought to a brief and succinct duration.

I can tell you the drama of shopping that site on the side lines of the history of civilization and walk you through empires and cultures that practices commerce in a myriad of ways. We can walk along the path that stretches and spans from ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, Athens and Rome all the way down to the twenty first century in this young country called the United States. But ill spare you.

I want to express a simple and direct appreciation, and I will assume that you are all taking my at my word, but the nature and manner in which people shop today is so drastically removed from the ancient and almost dangerous way that people used to shop.

To illustrate this ill recount a simple experience, one that I’m sure all of you had in your lifetime, and I will take special care to point out the details. The only thing you must bear in mind is that every single point that I will mention did not exist at one point or another. I’m pointing this all out to you so that the next time you indulge yourself in a bit of shopping you will bear in mind your opportunities and be grateful for them.

So here goes, I walked down a street in lower Manhattan in New York and a beautiful dress caught my eye through the large display window. It was not merely lying there but it was fitted perfectly to a dress form mannequin. I walked into the store and a girl came over to me and asked me if I required help. I accepted and asked her for the very f=dress that I saw on the dress form in the display window. She went and got it for me as I waited in a warm room (it was cold outside) I got the dress and went into a dressing room at the back of the store. I tried it on at appraise myself in the mirror. I liked what I saw.

I whited on line as some pleasant music filed my ears and swiped my credit card and was finished.

There is not one point in this short narrative that we should take for granted. If the study of history has thought me anything it is that where we live, in this beautiful country, is a blessing that is frankly unprecedented in the history of man