Shopping with Intentionality

      We live in a noisy world, and it seems that every screen we might turn on these days, whether phone,
television, or computer, bombards us with unsolicited words and images. Conflicting news headlines,
often absurd, scroll across our homepages causing confusion and disbelief, while the equally disturbing
advertisements on display in the margins target our subconscious. I’m not opposed to the use of
technology, or even the free marketplace, but it seems we have collectively allowed this hijacking of our
screens to reach the point of insanity. I can only imagine the impact these virtual messages are having
on our children’s, let alone our own adult minds. While I don’t think the answer is to unplug (that would
surely damage Fortune and Glory’s business in the virtual marketplace!) the first step of the solution
may be awareness of the influences we are allowing to reach us. We must be wary of this distortion of
the free market to the point where even we as consumers have become the products being sold. We
should remember to critically examine the information popping up in front of us, and we must do our
best to protect our children from it until they are ready to do this for themselves.

     My husband started Fortune and Glory almost ten years ago. Always being slightly behind the
technological curve, I didn’t even have a smart phone then. How things have changed. But what hasn’t
changed is the purpose behind this small online business. Now, more than ever, I am understanding the
importance of his desire to center this business on supporting American workers. Being a homemaker, I
have been responsible for most of the purchases made for our family and home, and over the past ten
years I’ve come to appreciate the ways in which American made products are often far superior to the
alternatives on the shelves of the local big box stores. While these items are typically more expensive
than their counterparts, I have come to realize more fully that financial costs are not the only ones
incurred when an item is purchased. What is often forgotten is the moral cost involved when purchasing
something produced using child labor in a foreign country, or the environmental cost involved in buying
an item that will need replacement after it has not stood the test of time. More optimistically, I have
come to believe in our ability to shape the American marketplace with the purchases we make. Above
all, they can make or break our fellow Americans’ livelihoods. After all, a free market benefits the most
people only if we are all willing to make thoughtful decisions that keep everyone’s best interests in
mind.

     Buying more intentionally has many far-reaching consequences for us individually and collectively, and
my hope is to explore each of them here in this journal. I am not an expert on the economy or even a
businesswoman, but I will offer my thoughts and experiences as an American consumer. I will endeavor
to be as transparent with you as possible, by sharing accurate information and trusting you to draw your
own conclusions. So, if you have read this far, thank you! And if this topic is of interest to you, I hope
you will join me in the coming months to explore what purchasing with intent means for you and your
own family. As always, thank you for your support in helping us keep the American dream alive.

Juliana