Silence

I’m just back from the supermarket here in Amsterdam and I am totally amazed. A sign in the supermarket said that it was open on Sunday, on X-mas day and even on Boxing Day as well. When I wanted to cross the street there were lots of people trying to do the same thing, carrying huge shopping bags, some with enormous carton boxes on the back of their bicycles, one struggling to push an abundantly loaded shopping cart over the tram rail. Cars had to wait to let the crowd pass from one side to the other. Ordinarily this is a quiet street. Today I have been looking into a feature I want to implement in the Buddhist magazine I am working for. It is to stimulate people to buy less. It is a pity the International Buy Nothing Day isn’t a monthly or a weekly event instead of a yearly one.

all photos copied from http://www.koopniets.nl/buynothingday.htm.