tiffanygu Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:10 amFIRST REVISION
Imagine a world where the words ‘buy one get one free’ are the resounding sound that is nearly almost always accompanied by the thunderous beat of a massive crowd rushing to a store. Where the world is covered with people who take up far more room, where there are significantly more morbidly obese people than before because of a simple, rather twisted ideology. The kind of world that boasts ‘now with more fillintheblank’ as a mantra of a good deal. Where camping overnight in front of a store building on a cold wintry evening is not a crazy idea in the slightest. This world is not one of science fiction, of fairy tales. This world is our reality.
We’ve been trained from the very beginning to embrace the concept of ‘more.’ As we grew up through the years and made friends, it was always ‘the more the merrier!’ And when buying a pack of socks, 12 pairs are always better than 10. For that very reason, the near-holy institution of Costco has sprung into place, where buying things wholesale, for a cheaper price has become simply a way of life. Shopping has turned into a quest for duplicates and extras. And in the spirit of the holiness of wholesale, like our predecessors purchasing their pardons, we, too give into the ploy of buying more, more more more. ‘More’ is the word that is chanted, day by day, our belief in every second of our waking hours. ‘More’ is the giant slime monster that devours and absorbs everything in its path with an insatiable hunger, growing larger and larger with every passing second. If nothing is done to stop it, the entire world as we know it will be stuck and engulfed amidst a sea of sludge, blinded by the toxins of excess, led astray by the perfumes of that extra triple cheeseburger.
What does all this say about us? In that eternal search for more for less, have we learned to compromise? If all we search for is to get the most of something for the lowest cost doesn’t that demean the true definition of value? Maybe as times have changed so rapidly, we have also so quickly forgotten an age-old adage that speaks against this craze. Quality over quantity. This isn’t used as much anymore. That much is obvious, with obesity on the rise. With the notable preference to shove our faces with a lot of cheap junk, health has declined and overweightness is very much on the rise. With the overall values of our society changing to embrace such a notion, is it possible that going backwards might not be such a bad thing?
Imagine a world where McDonalds tasted, well, legitimately good. Imagine a time where although maybe you didn’t get quite as much for your money, but what you did get was always,s always well worth it. Taking into consideration food portions, something we all need to survive, something easily compared, you’ll find that in the 1950’s portions of the same products we enjoy today were notably smaller. There just wasn’t a need for a Big Mac when a simple hamburger would suffice. I guess that’s just some food for thought the next time you are wandering the hallowed halls of Costco in search of a ton of food you will most likely not be able to finish before the expiration date. Maybe one day, we’ll be able to digest the fact that more is not always better. It’s time to rethink our priorities and remember that our mothers told us to value quality over quantity for a reason.
Imagine a world where the words ‘buy one get one free’ are the resounding sound that is nearly almost always accompanied by the thunderous beat of a massive crowd rushing to a store. Where the world is covered with people who take up far more room, where there are significantly more morbidly obese people than before because of a simple, rather twisted ideology. The kind of world that boasts ‘now with more fillintheblank’ as a mantra of a good deal. Where camping overnight in front of a store building on a cold wintry evening is not a crazy idea in the slightest. This world is not one of science fiction, of fairy tales. This world is our reality.
We’ve been trained from the very beginning to embrace the concept of ‘more.’ As we grew up through the years and made friends, it was always ‘the more the merrier!’ And when buying a pack of socks, 12 pairs are always better than 10. For that very reason, the near-holy institution of Costco has sprung into place, where buying things wholesale, for a cheaper price has become simply a way of life. Shopping has turned into a quest for duplicates and extras. And in the spirit of the holiness of wholesale, like our predecessors purchasing their pardons, we, too give into the ploy of buying more, more more more. ‘More’ is the word that is chanted, day by day, our belief in every second of our waking hours. ‘More’ is the giant slime monster that devours and absorbs everything in its path with an insatiable hunger, growing larger and larger with every passing second. If nothing is done to stop it, the entire world as we know it will be stuck and engulfed amidst a sea of sludge, blinded by the toxins of excess, led astray by the perfumes of that extra triple cheeseburger.
What does all this say about us? In that eternal search for more for less, have we learned to compromise? If all we search for is to get the most of something for the lowest cost doesn’t that demean the true definition of value? Maybe as times have changed so rapidly, we have also so quickly forgotten an age-old adage that speaks against this craze. Quality over quantity. This isn’t used as much anymore. That much is obvious, with obesity on the rise. With the notable preference to shove our faces with a lot of cheap junk, health has declined and overweightness is very much on the rise. With the overall values of our society changing to embrace such a notion, is it possible that going backwards might not be such a bad thing?
Imagine a world where McDonalds tasted, well, legitimately good. Imagine a time where although maybe you didn’t get quite as much for your money, but what you did get was always,s always well worth it. Taking into consideration food portions, something we all need to survive, something easily compared, you’ll find that in the 1950’s portions of the same products we enjoy today were notably smaller. There just wasn’t a need for a Big Mac when a simple hamburger would suffice. I guess that’s just some food for thought the next time you are wandering the hallowed halls of Costco in search of a ton of food you will most likely not be able to finish before the expiration date. Maybe one day, we’ll be able to digest the fact that more is not always better. It’s time to rethink our priorities and remember that our mothers told us to value quality over quantity for a reason.