In a world that is guided by solidarity and programmed anatomic emotionless decision-making through A.I., online shopping and social platforms, walking into a small business can bring rays of color into one’s life. This is what I experience when I walk into Healthway Nutrition Store in Escanaba, U.P. Michigan.

At first glance inside the small local business store, one’s olfactory senses fire up in the brain as the health store’s air is redolent of spices and welcoming ambient body heat. A sense of pathos is thick in the air, causing the brain to reconnect to the senses of being human after all. A person uses their holistic emotions while shopping in this store. It is a small business but a large part of Escanaba’s thriving community.

Supporting small businesses is vital to any community. Small businesses bring people and their community together. Similar to my experiences at Healthway Nutrition Store in Escanaba U.P. Michigan, people stop to talk with one another. Struggles are shared and a degree of camaraderie is exchanged in this current state of political and economic uncertainties. Many times in these small businesses problems that often isolate individuals are solved or smoothed over as suggestions are welcomed by friends and even strangers. A cordial “I’ll pray for you” followed by a hug does wonders to a struggling soul. In small businesses people stop to chat. Strangers smile at one another. In some instances, phone numbers are exchanged and new acquaintances are formed; one meets the regular consumers thus evolving in kinship.

It is important now more than ever to shop at local businesses. One never knows how much a smile and a friendly “hello” from a human being can add rays of color to an otherwise monotonous day.