The Hazards of Reading Labels

#2 Son is into reading labels now, which is a mixed blessing. He tells us that the green tea that everyone is fond of drinking is often full of sugar and other undesirable additives. "How about this one?" I ask. "Hmmm." He studies it. This one is "a little better. At least no preservatives."

He has also informed us that the soy milk brand we have been buying is owned by Philip Morris. Truly unfortunate. But lots of things are owned by Philip Morris now. Even Kraft -- the Macaroni and Cheese people.

This feeds my dark paranoid fantasies that soon the world will be owned and operated by three large corporations. One of them will probably be Philip Morris.

There is probably some truth in this. After all, we fight against dark powers of the universe. The danger is in thinking that there is nothing we can do about this, and giving up.

But we can do something. And we can start by reading labels.