Shopping Cart Theory: A Call To Be A Better Catholic
We all know the feeling.
You’re upon completion of your dreadful weekly adventure. You load up your last shopping bag into the car. And now it’s time.
It’s time for the hardest decision of the whole adventure. It’s harder than deciding between the turkey cobb salad or the walnut, apple, cranberry, with crumbled blue cheese salad.
What do you do? How can you get out of it? Where can you stash it? Is anybody looking? What will they think?
And before you know it, it’s done. You have abandoned the friend you have had for the past hour between the convergence of 4 parked cars.
Is there guilt? Maybe. Is there shame? Maybe. But the deed is done and there is no turning back now.
You pull away with urgency to get out of the parking lot without being seen. Your tires hit the pavement and you're gone. The perfect getaway for a not so harmless behavior.
The Shopping Cart Theory
What is the Shopping Cart Theory? As far as we know, it originated on Reddit. Let us examine this argument from the original post.
The shopping cart theory provides an interesting perspective on self-governance. While I don’t agree with the whole animal part at the bottom. I do believe that this test is a good barometer of how things are going in your own lives.
The shopping cart scenario is just one of the other life examples we encounter throughout our day. Often times it comes down to two decisions. Will you do the work? Or are you fine making it someone else’s problem?
We can keep this list going but you get the point. There are little tasks that we encounter and we have two choices. To do what’s right. Or pretend like we didn’t know about it and make it someone else’s problem.
Short Term Gain For Long Term Failure
Why do we neglect to handle various tasks when we know we should? Why are we comfortable letting it be someone else’s problem?
I don’t know if we’ll ever get to the root of this problem. I think a better strategy in attacking this problem is to show why this life strategy is not worth the price.
Why is doing less work not worth the price? Because the short term gain is setting you up for long term failure.
Now you are probably asking, “How so? It’s just a shopping cart.”
Well, unfortunately, it’s not just a shopping cart. Instead, this simple act has positively reinforced a bad habit. The bad habit of cutting corners.
This habit is a silent killer. You won’t even know it’s there until it’s too late.
Cutting corners and neglecting to do the small things typically leads to neglect in other areas of your life as well. This will always come back to haunt you.
You neglect one area in your life and before you know it you’re making up an excuse to neglect another area.
That’s why it’s important to live by the motto “How You Do Anything, Is How You Do Everything.” At any given moment we have two choices. The choice to do right or the choice to do wrong. Whatever, you choose will reinforce the habit of right or wrong.
Remember that the next time you are faced with a decision.
A Call To Be A Better Catholic
Let’s examine the shopping cart theory. At its core, there is a call to do two things.
There is a call to do a little more. To go the extra yard and do what’s right.
There is a call to help your fellow man. Take responsibility for the situation rather than passing it on to someone else.
As Christians, this is what God calls us to do every day. God is always calling us to do more and be better.
The Greatest Commandment
In the Gospel of Matthew, he delivers the Greatest Commandment. The shopping cart theory can be applied directly to this passage.
Jesus said the second commandment is, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” It’s clear to see that leaving the shopping cart in a random place is self-serving. It’s not loving your neighbor. It’s inconveniencing them.
However, the first commandment might not be as clear to see.
Jesus said that the greatest of God’s commandments is, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
It’s a difficult argument to make that not putting the shopping cart back means you don’t love God. But let’s go back to our motto…
How You Do Anything, Is How You Do Everything
The excuses you make for the shopping cart can be used for activities that take away from our ability to love God.
“I don’t feel like praying”
“I don’t want to go to Bible study”
“It’s not a big deal if I skip Mass today”
Can you see how that neglect can seep directly into other areas of your life? We are called to die to ourselves, but neglecting the little things is what keeps the self alive.
In Closing
As Catholics, we know how difficult living a Catholic life can be. God always calls you to do more, but how often do you fall short of the finish line. The finish line being when the cart is in the collection unit. Or it’s fulfilling a commitment that you made to God. Keeping his covenant.
Don’t let neglect creep into your life. Going the extra yard is worth it and it will not go unnoticed by others or by our Lord.
Do the little things that come up throughout your day. Turn it over to God when you hear that little voices of right and wrong. Let him help you go above and beyond for him and your neighbor.
Be consistent in these activities and observe how God will begin to transform your life. It will be like night and day. And to think, it can all start with a shopping cart.
God Bless!
Dr. Craig Bowen
