The two single biggest shocks in my life have been:

1. The rise of the anti-tobacco movement to the point it is at today no smoking in restaurants and bars, public places, beaches etc.. I dreamed that 30 years ago;

2. The acceptance of the “no-look” pass in basketball (coaches in the l970s would bench guys for throwing the ball without making “eye contact” with your teammate!).

I now have a third cultural marker to add to my list: The current Market Basket controversy.

Employees at the Market Basket grocery store chain throughout New England have been calling in sick to work this summer to protest the corporate/board ouster of their longtime beloved C.E.O. Arthur “Artie T” Demoulas. Sacrificing their own needs to earn a living. Huh??

Also, customers have been boycotting the store. Putting the issue of loyalty to a store administrator/figurehead over their stomachs. Double huh?!

This all just staggers me.

Have you ever been in trouble? Ever been ostracized at a PTA meeting for mouthing opposition to a popular class or teacher you don’t like? Or for saying there should not be French fries at every cafeteria meal for kids?

Or had your car spray-painted because you insisted on using plastic gloves before handling certain items at your workplace as part of your job?

Or been whispered about – and not stood up for – at your place of worship for declining to participate in a religious ceremony at a funeral service for a friend who may have been a different faith than you?

Did you wait for support in these circumstances?

Hope someone would stand up for you?

Long for a friendly face to show up and speak for you at some meeting?

Hold your breath, Bucko.

Not going to happen.

Going out on a limb for someone in your life who has taken an unpopular stand is a l950s thing. (It became unfashionable the same time as Nehru jackets, shag rugs, and mutton chop sideburns for men).

So how do we explain hundreds of Market Basket employees having a “sick out,” and the store’s traditionally immigrant-populated customer base going elsewhere (despite not being able to get food from “the old country” elsewhere)?

Sappy sentimentality straight out of “It’s a Wonderful Life?” Or something we have not been told yet? No idea.

My late Uncle Ron would say, “I think I’m going to go have a cigarette and figure it all out.”

I bet you couldn’t do either, Ron.

Dan Warren is a Scarborough lawyer who can be reached by private Facebook message at the Jones & Warren Attorneys at Law page, or by email at jonesandwarren@gmail.com.