A Generative Force

It has been 15 days since the raid and the store is still closed. Each day in a small business such as ours is a lifetime. The expenses continue and the cash flow stops. It is a bit like drinking through a straw and the glass is almost empty. The slurping noise is the sound of the bank account drying  up.  There are days when I feel depleted. There are nights that my thoughts are filled with impossibilities. I find that my meditations are frequent, deep and necessary.


When we were seeking financing for the business, I was approached and was offered seed money from a retail drugstore chain. They were very impressed and interested in our concept and offered "no-strings attached" financing, enough to open several stores. They assured us that we would call the shots. 

"Will you let me paint the store a bright pink?" I asked.
"Why would you do that?" was the reply from the company representative. He was confused.
" Well, you say we call the shots. I really, really like pink. Fuschia-bright pink, to be exact." I said. Of course I was joking, but he was still confused by the question.
" I don't think that will fit our corporate guidelines," was the final answer.


We have somehow managed, still independent, not affiliated with any drugstore chains or banners or buying groups. Also, not pink. But: we could be; and that is the difference.



The human body can survive on about 1200 calories a day. Fish, rice, water. The human spirit, that is a little more complicated. Your many letters and emails  provide us all here at Marigold with  the sustenance for our spirit.  They are very much appreciated.


We thank you for caring, we thank you for your support.

When this event started, Gaylene noted that this is merely a different manifestation of our mission. We have all been focused on providing reliable, dependable and complete natural medicine through our practice and our store. We felt that this was taking shape, that we were emerging through the initial phase of growth.


Vis Curatio Intentio (To Heal as Nature Intended) is our motto.


What is happening now a different sort of healing. To heal the rift, to heal the intransigence, to heal the inertia of stuck. To allow the message to spread; to start the generative force that fuels true and lasting change. Maybe this is what this is. Maybe this is just as important. Maybe this is the true mission.


There are many letters from people that are just discovering the current issues  surrounding natural medicine. People who have never heard of us. They are interested, curious, supportive. We appreciate that. We want all  of you to be engaged. This is not just Marigold. This affects health food stores, supermarkets, practitioners, manufacturers, sales reps, growers, bee keepers and many more involved in the production and delivery of natural health products.

Write in with a letter of support,  do at least that. We are collecting these letters and will use these as our tools to affect the change. 

These letters are the arrows of change. Let us have 100,000 arrows. Address the letter to your elected official, as this shift has to come from our leaders.  The leaders have to have the will, just as we have to have the will.

Your MP can be found through your postal code at www.canada.gc.ca. 
The MP for the North Vancouver Island is John Duncan and his email is duncan.j@parl.gc.ca.


Anything that matters is never easy and demands of us three things: commitment, impetus and belief. Commit to writing a letter today. If 80% of the natural supplements disappeared from the shelf today, how will that affect you? Let this be the impetus for your own initiative to learn more, to act with integrity and to care. As in nature, the generative force starts with the smallest seed.


Most importantly, believe this simple truth: the change is you and I.