The importance of being Wal-Mart.

It seems like every day the news is bracketed with new Wal-Mart story. Here are just a few examples:
• BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- A text message that's been circulating among Kern County's Hispanic community is causing some concern. The message claims that Wal-Mart gave permission for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to round up immigrants in its stores on March 20. The message adds to support the Hispanic movement by not shopping at Wal-Mart and to spread the word.
• YUCCA VALLEY — Two environmental groups suing Wal-Mart Stores Inc. settled this week, with the corporation agreeing to improve the energy efficiency of its planned Supercenter in Yucca Valley and donate money toward land conservation.
• COLUMBUS -- Police said a 68 year old man in a Wal-Mart store punched children with a key protruding from his fist and told investigators it was a thrill.
• The Supreme Court of Canada found for Wal-Mart and confirmed that a recently certified employer has no legal obligation under labor legislation to stay in business, and that a closure of one of its locations can constitute sufficient reason for the termination of the employees at that location.
Each one of these stories shows a kaleidoscopic view through a quintessential American institution. Wal-Mart has become the fabric that holds the tapestry of our lives. It amazes me that there was a period of time within my adult life time when hardly anyone outside of a few people in northwest Arkansas had ever even heard of Wal-Mart. When I got out of the service in 1970, I was hired as a part time employee to open Wal-Mart #26, I worked at night and on weekends while I went to school Monday through Friday. Fresh back from Vietnam, I had no idea that the “Wal” was actually the family name of the major owners, let alone that they would go on to become some of the riches people in the US. And the chain would become one of the most recognizable institutions in American life.
Given the relative short existence of Wal-Mart it is hard to imagine what a common frame of reference it has been become. Before Wal-Mart where did illegal immigrants stay away from to avoid the INS? I just don’t see the same level of impact if, for instance, illegal immigrants were avoiding Piggly Wiggle to stay away from a rumored immigration raid. And, if Wal-Mart had never existed who would be donating money to land conservation to assuage the sensibilities of enviro-activists? It seems doubtful that Stan’s IGA donating money for a new landfill would be quite so newsworthy. If 68 year punches children with a key in a Wal-Mart that is news; but a senile old man frightening children at Walgreen's; well, what did you expect? Without Wal-Mart it would be obvious that defunct employers could not provide jobs; but with Wal-Mart the people of Canada have to wait until the Supreme Court decides that once a business closes that is sufficient reason to terminate the former employees.
For better or for worse, the world as we have come to recognize it lives on, around, a through Wal-Mart. It gives scale to world events, it supplies a reference for human folly and paints the world in a uniquely American perspective. If the Walton family had not built Wal-Mart, we would have had to invent it, just so we could relate to today's society.