n junior high I was a member of a very small and exclusive “in crowd.” Jeopardy wannabes before the programs ever aired, we ardently memorized lists. Our copies of the World Almanac, World Atlas, and World Book Encyclopedia were well worn. There was one list, however, that never engaged me. It featured the Great Pyramids, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, and The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus. Years ago, this list was enshrined as the “Seven Wonders of the World.”
A new list is long overdue. More wondrous than the great structures of antiquity is the spirit of improvement and enterprise in free societies. Let me call my new list the “Seven True Wonders of the World.”
1. The grocery store. Between items, brands, and sizes, your neighborhood grocery store may sell more than 40,000 stock keeping units within its walls. Forty thousand! Canned, bottled, boxed, fresh, bagged, frozen, or sliced at the deli. Juices from dozens of fruits—fresh, from concentrate, or sparkling. Amber waves of grain and multigrain. Coffees from four continents. The wines of a dozen nations. Dozens of beers, ales, and ciders to satisfy every taste.
