Why is this whole aisle of items blocked off?

Why is this whole aisle of items blocked off in a local store? We've had times when a store would not sell us a particular item. Most memorably, Kristie and I were shopping once and picked out some shampoo; the item and price were clearly marked on the shelf. When we arrived at the counter, the item would not scan. A manager was called who said that the item was not in the computer yet and told us that we could not buy the shampoo. I even argued that we were willing to pay the price listed on the shelf. But the manager confiscated the contraband item and, probably, returned it to the shelf where it belonged.

But this is different: whole shelves blocked off but filled with items behind the sheet. The other side of this aisle also had an entire section blocked off. Store after store that I visited on Thursday showed a similar sight. Entire aisles with paper, sheets, or other coverings blocking one's view of the items behind it.

What could be the reason? What products are covered behind those shelves?

It turns out that the Mongolian government has prohibited the sale of alcohol: liquor, wine, beer, etc. A distillery in Baganuur obtained some pure alcohol from China. Unfortunately for the consumers, it was not pure grain alcohol but pure wood alcohol. It was mixed into a batch of vodka in Baganuur. Unsuspecting Mongolians drank the poisoned brew on New Year's Eve; and by New Year's morning, eleven people were dead and thirteen others were in the hospital including the president of the distillery. Since then, another person has died and now over sixty people have been poisoned by the methanol.

The Ministry of Health acted immediately to prohibit the sale of alcohol and to warn people about the possibility of other contaminated alcoholic products. The sale of all liquor, wine, and beer has been temporarily suspended which is the reason for shelves of items to be covered in every store.

Saddest to me is the fact that the government moves to warn people about alcohol after people die quickly. Thousands of Mongolians die every year from the effects of alcohol. Some drink, pass out on the way home, and die from exposure to the cold. Some destroy their livers after years of drinking and die of various liver diseases. Some die from poor judgment caused by the consumption of alcohol. All of these deaths the government ignores. But when eleven people die suddenly, the government steps in.

But this story also illustrates man's perverse fascination with sin. Sins with immediate and overwhelming effects, of course, are seen for their evil and generally condemned by society. Few Americans would try to countenance murder, for example; and everyone thought that Enron's dishonesty was deplorable. But most Americans refuse to admit that deception is always wrong. Sins whose effects are obvious and tragic grab our attention. But all of us make excuses for allowing the "little" sins whose effects may not be as immediate or deadly.

The recent debacle with alcohol in Mongolia was a good reminder to me to guard my own life from the "little" sins which threaten to destroy gradually and to be on guard against the rationalizing, "Oh, this little bit won't hurt."