The Deplorable Word

Those of us who live in the New England area are watching with great curiosity and bewilderment at the drama surrounding the Demoulas/Market Basket grocery store chain. For those of you unfamiliar with the story, Market Basket is a private family owned chain of grocery stores. Arthur Demoulas an immigrant from Greece opened the first store in 1916. His sons George and Mike – and their sons – Arthur T. and Arthur S., grew the company into a $4.6 Billion dollar company with 72 stores and 25,000 employees by being the low cost alternative to the higher priced National Supermarket chains.

Despite their success, Arthur T. and Arthur S. (both named after their founding Grandfather) have been feuding for decades. Arthur S. claimed that Arthur T’s side of the family defrauded his side of the family and he won a lawsuit against Arthur T. that awarded him millions of dollars and made him the richest man in Boston. Despite his win in court, Arthur S. remained a minority owner while Arthur T’s side of the family ran Market Basket’s day to day Operations with great success for over 40 years. Under Arthur T’s leadership Market Basket grew from $3  to $4 Billion dollars and the number of employees increased from 14,000 to 25,000. In addition to his business success, Arthur T was universally beloved by the store employees because he treated them like family, paying them above average salaries, profit sharing bonuses and generous benefits.

Recently, one of the nine family members who own Demoula’s shares switched their allegiance from Arthur T. to Arthur S. giving him 55% of the voting shares and control of the company for the first time. Arthur S. responded by adding new members to the Board, voting to give the family shareholders a $500 million bonus and firing Arthur T. and replacing him with two new co-CEOs loyal to him. Arthur T. strongly opposed the board’s actions claiming their decisions were strip mining the store for wealth by raising prices, approving dividends and selling off real estate.

The firing of Arthur T. led to a walkout by most workers who were sympathetic to their president; as well as a general boycott of all Market Basket stores by vendors and customers that paralyzed operations and prevented fresh food from getting to store shelves. The company lost tens of millions of dollars in the past six weeks and there is no telling when or how the standoff will end. Since Market Basket employees refuse to work for Arthur S. Demoulas and Market Basket customers refuse to patronize the store under the new management, the most obvious resolution to the standoff would be for Arthur T. to buy out his cousin and take complete ownership of the store. Arthur T, has made a 1.5 billion dollar offer to buy out his cousin and issued a statement through his spokeswoman that, “It is Arthur T. Demoulas’ hope that the Arthur S. Demoulas family will come to the table to reach a final agreement on reasonable terms before it is too late to save this company.”

The whole situation is a sad commentary on the toxic effects that pride, greed, anger and unforgiveness can have on our lives (see my previous blog entry “Money doesn’t talk it swears“).  Both sides are suffering, and even though they have both said they want to strike an agreement they appear unwilling, or unable, to communicate directly with each other to reconcile their differences. Meanwhile, the workers who are without work and the store vendors who cannot sell their goods sit on the sidelines – the innocent victims of the family feud.

The Magician’s Nephew, a book by CS Lewis – part of the Chronicles of Narnia Series

Following this drama in the news made me think back to a book written by CS Lewis called “The Magician’s Nephew” that I read to my daughters when they were young girls. It is a fantasy story where two children find their way into a desolate, abandoned  city of an ancient world called Charn. The only living inhabitant in this world is an evil queen named Jadis, who, to avoid defeat in battle, had deliberately killed every living thing in Charn by speaking the Deplorable Word – a magical word that when spoken, destroys every living thing – except the person speaking it.

Below is an excerpt from the book where Jadis describes the chain of events that led to her use of the Deplorable Word weapon:

“It was my sister’s fault,” said  the Queen. “She drove me to it. May the curse of all powers rest upon her forever! At any moment I was ready to make peace – yes, and to spare her life too, if only she would yield me the throne. But she would not. Her pride has destroyed the whole world.

Even after the war had begun, there was a solemn promise that neither side would use Magic. But when she broke her promise, what could I do? Fool! As if she did not know that I had more Magic than she! She even knew that I had the secret of the Deplorable Word. Did she think – she was always a weakling – that I would not use it?

[She knew that if I spoke this word] it would destroy all living things except the one who spoke it… I did not use it until she forced me to it. I fought to overcome her by every other means. I poured out the blood of my armies like water – the last great battle raged for three days. I did not use my power till the last of my soldiers had fallen, and the accursed woman, my sister, at the head of the her rebels was halfway up the great stairs. I waited till we were so close that we could see one another’s faces. She flashed her horrible, wicked eyes upon me and said ‘Victory’ . ‘Yes, said I, ‘Victory’, but not yours.’ Then I spoke the Deplorable Word. A moment later I was the only living thing beneath the sun.” 

I wonder if a similar thought pattern runs through the mind of Arthur S. Demoulas when he thinks about his cousin. Will his hatred and desire to prevail over his cousin at any cost lead him to deploy weapons that will ultimately kill the company and the livelihoods of the tens of thousands of people who count on Market Basket? Would the failure of the company be more preferable to him than seeing his reviled cousin Arthur T claim ultimate Victory? And no matter who comes out on top, will it be a Pyrrhic Victory – coming with such a devastating cost that the company will not be able to survive?

Time will tell – but I know the whole debacle has reminded me of the power of words and that we need to be careful how we use them. We all have the power of the “Deplorable Word” in our arsenals; hurtful words spoken in anger and hatred that we used as a weapon at one time in our past that destroyed or caused lasting damage to an important relationship in our life. These words usually lead to mutually assured destruction because they hurt both parties. So next time you feel like lashing out in frustration at someone who has upset you, take a deep breath and remember the lesson of the Deplorable Word – try instead to respond with the Honorable Word, words that do not destroy people but lift them up and encourage them – words that bring life and not death.