apple raisin crisp

Know what the most appalling, unforgivable aspect of corporate America is?
No, not the price-fixing or egregious misdistribution of wealth. Nah, not the crushing of independent business. Unh-uh, not even commercials so insipid that your teeth cringe, perhaps featuring a song you once innocently frolicked to, with lyrics now extolling the virtues of crispy nuggets.
Nope, it ain't those.
It's when those jagoffs take the greatest product ever off the shelves.
Take it, like it never existed. A product so yummy that a room full would put stars in your eyes.
It's happened four times in my life.
The first time was back in those non-discriminatory days of youth when i ate milk chocolate. I'd enjoyed Twix bars from time to time. A lovely product. Then one day, i saw a cookies and cream Twix Bar. It had a dark cookie with white cream, and a dark chocolate coating. It was amazing. I enjoyed them throughout that summer. Then one day...gone. Just gone.
Bastards.
Another time it happened when i'd eaten the product only once. I pulled the last bag of ranch Dirty Potato Chips off the grocery shelf one night. I'd never heard of the brand, which would go on to become my favorite chip ever. I came back later that week, and the clerk told me they were out. Years of fruitless searching later, i found no mention that they'd even existed, on the company website.
The third time, it wasn't a disappearing product, but the changing of a recipe. For years, my favorite candy was Hershey's Special Dark. Then one day i looked at the label, and where it had read "semi-sweet chocolate", it now read "mildly sweet". Mildly sweet? What the blessed balls of mary is "mildly sweet"? I examined the ingredients. They'd upped the milk content. It was a calamity. They'd taken my beatles of candy bars, and turned it into new kids on the chocolate block. I rushed around to stores, buying up as many of the huge-sized classics as i could find. I froze them, and ate the last piece a few years later.
And then there's the deepest wound of all.
The most beloved cereal of my life.
Kellogg's Apple Raisin Crisp.
My mouth parts and my jaw hangs, just remembering.
It had these huge flakes that never lost crispness, and were a 'lil sweet. Yummy, unsweetened raisins. And big chunks of dried apple, dusted with cinnamon.
My mouth was never so happy.
Then one day, it was gone.
Just gone.
I found out a few years later that you could order it in bulk. I obtained the form...and never ordered. Maybe i was still off-balance from its disappearance. Maybe i was waiting for someone to know me so well that they'd give me a crate as a gift, and it would be one of the best gifts of my life. Maybe i didn't want to prolong my pain.
And now, it seems that ordering in bulk is no longer an option.
Life is about loss. It's our losses that teach us more about ourselves than happiness.
No tears.
Maybe just one.
And maybe, just maybe...if one day i fell the mighty giant that is corporate America...if i make this land safe for every mom & pop store, every corner bodega, every bootblack, and hobo cleaning your windshield at the intersection...maybe one day your kids will look at my statue.
In my left hand?
A box of that damned Apple Raisin Crisp.
Them bastards fucked with the wrong wildflower.