When ignorance is bliss.

My local shopkeeper is a Lebanese Muslim. I live in an area that has a proud and vibrant Jewish community.

The shopkeeper serves good coffee and I consider it my primary filling station. The shop closes early in the evening so if I get a hankering for a caffeine hit after this time the alternative is the gelato shop run by a pleasant lady of Italian origins.

The bus stop is in front of the gelato shop and in view of the local store. For some time I felt guilty to be drinking a coffee from the local store in view of the gelato shop, so I would wait down the street to finish the local store bought coffee. On a few occasions this necessitated a mad dash to reach the bus before it pulled away. Why I feel a loyalty or a desire not to offend one store owner or the other is a topic for a later date but I have settled the dilemma by placing a time demarcation. If the local store is open I will purchase from there. When they are closed it's the gelato shop. I tried it on the weekend and felt uneasy so it may take some time to bed down.

Those observant few my be asking, 'why just not have a coffee ?' Last year I quit smoking. I have replaced nicotine with caffeine.

This afternoon I went for a walk and, as is my want, I stopped at the local store for a coffee. Before me a lady was buying some goods and, to judge a book by its cover, appeared to be of Jewish heritage. When the shopkeeper was adding the cost she remembered she wanted some paper towel and asked him if he had any. It was on a high self and when he took a roll down the lady could see another product that had an Australian made symbol. 'Ah where is that one made?' she inquired about the roll he had in his hand. As he was looking she said, 'No I think i'll have the other one, we should buy Australian.' The item was added and the goods paid for. Another quick decision to add a bunch of flowers to her goods and she was gone.

Now, she may have set it as her life's struggle to lift the paper towel workers of Australia from a terrible plight, despite the economic arguments that protectionism in any form creates inefficiencies. It may have been a genuine desire to support Australian manufacturing that did not extend to clothing, textile and footwear workers from the designer labels she was wearing or automotive employees by the late model Volvo she drove away in. It may have been an emotive and impulsive comment. Whatever the motivation was it seemed strange to a bystander such as myself.

In relating these events I am not intending to portray this behaviour as indicative.

As I approached the counter the shopkeeper said, 'A coffee for you ?' I found it hard to resist and said, 'Only if the beans are made in Australia.' He turned back with a smile.

Considering recent events it would have been understandable if our conversation moved to a discussion of the events surrounding the falsification of Australian passports and their use in the assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai. It is usual, if there are no customers to serve, for us to have a quick chat about the days news. But this wasn't the case. He only said how he was looking forward to taking his kids for a swim this evening after closing the shop.

I have often been critical of my friends lack of awareness of world or national events and their indifference or lack of passion for politics. I don't profess to having even a rudimentary understanding of the causes of conflicts in the Middle East. After some more small talk with the shopkeeper, I left to watch the sun go down over Sydney Harbour. There are horrific things happening in many parts of the world but in this little corner things seem right. 

It may just be that ignorance is bliss.