Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
Let's pretend, just for a minute, that the seven deadly sins had a dinner party.
They talked amongst themselves and decided to have the shindig at Pride's house, you know, so he'd have a sense of a accomplishment. But, before long, Envy was jealous that she didn't get to show off her house, too. All of the squabbling made Wrath angry and so subsequently, he left early. It's a good thing he did too, because he would have only gotten angrier after hearing about Lust's latest infidelity. Meanwhile, Sloth of course, showed up late so he missed everything, period. Greed meanwhile, was happy Sloth and Wrath weren't around for long and that Pride and Envy were fighting in the kitchen. This left more food for him and Gluttony to chow down on.
No matter your vice, chances are you have fallen victim to one of the deadly sins at some point in your life. If you haven't, you're either a monk or a liar and if you're the latter you're still sinning, so there. I have a theory though that as time marches on, more and more of us are living lives that accommodate a cardinal sin or two.
For instance, in America, more and more people are subscribing to the notion of having more. People are super sizing everything from their fries to their lives with bigger houses, bigger vehicles and bigger boobs. While I've managed "in large part" to avoid the growing epidemic, even I have fallen victim to one aspect- the beauty of bulk shopping.
I can't tell you when and where it started exactly, but stores like Sam's Club, Costco and BJ's are now commonplace on highways everywhere. Initially stores like these were started with the small business in mind. They had to go somewhere to buy their vending machines and scotch tape, so they'd order from a huge warehouse, big enough to stock the goods that they needed. Of course years ago we never thought about where small businesses got these items from. We were perfectly content just shopping with a regular sized cart that could fit everything we need plus a whiny child, often with room to spare.
But somewhere along the line, the overstock option trickled down to the everyday consumer. Suddenly buying 10 sodas on double coupon day at ShopRite was just not adequate. You needed to get 20 sodas for the party that you weren't having-- all in the name of being prepared. I suppose if you're looking to point a finger, you can blame this need to plan ahead on the likes of the seeds planted by the Boys and Girl Scout troops of America.
So you go and you stock up on things you "need" as if you truly believed Prince when he said we could all die any day. But Y2K came and went and people continued to shop as if everyday was a rainy day. Go into a local bulk warehouse on any given Sunday and you'll see what REM was talking about. People are shopping like it's the end of the world as they know it, but no doubt, they feel fine, all while waiting in a massive line.
But warehouse marketers aren't stupid. You might stop in places like these for logical necessities like toilet paper, water and deodorant, but while you're there you also end up picking up 24 precooked chicken sandwiches, a 10 pound bag of Hershey's miniatures and a snow shovel or two, just cause it seemed like the thing to do at the time.
And there's yet another reason to subscribe to the less more is more way of living. This is the pampered treatment you receive when you go there. To shop in places like Sam's a membership fee is required and thus, a sense of entitlement suddenly becomes attached to you and everyone else who goes there. While you're there, you can feast off the handful of products they have on display. These things range from breakfast sausages to sorbet. Double or nothing, they know exactly what they are doing with these sort of displays, too.
For starters, no pun intended, they often have featured products to try at awkward times of the day. Remember, you usually go shopping somewhere after breakfast or before lunch, but when it's not quite dinner yet. So basically, you've been fed for the day, but your next feeding is still long enough way so that the general waft of those toquitos or whatever else is cooking, will kick your stomach into high gear. Before you know it, your "linner" (lunch+dinner) becomes the things you munch, things which, incidentally always taste far tastier when trying them in the store than when you cook them up at home, of course.
It seems the American public seems to have the chills for products that are multiplying, but all of this reminds me of a wise saying I once saw on a No Fear t-shirt, of all places. "He who dies with the most toys, still dies." Yes, just like anything else, trends, food and even people all have one thing in common--expiration dates.
For better or worse, I don't see any of this changing anytime soon. In the meantime our solution to our cups continuing to runneth is to just go and grab another glass. We live in the moment and stock up for tomorrow.
After all, there will always be more where that came from.
They talked amongst themselves and decided to have the shindig at Pride's house, you know, so he'd have a sense of a accomplishment. But, before long, Envy was jealous that she didn't get to show off her house, too. All of the squabbling made Wrath angry and so subsequently, he left early. It's a good thing he did too, because he would have only gotten angrier after hearing about Lust's latest infidelity. Meanwhile, Sloth of course, showed up late so he missed everything, period. Greed meanwhile, was happy Sloth and Wrath weren't around for long and that Pride and Envy were fighting in the kitchen. This left more food for him and Gluttony to chow down on.
No matter your vice, chances are you have fallen victim to one of the deadly sins at some point in your life. If you haven't, you're either a monk or a liar and if you're the latter you're still sinning, so there. I have a theory though that as time marches on, more and more of us are living lives that accommodate a cardinal sin or two.
For instance, in America, more and more people are subscribing to the notion of having more. People are super sizing everything from their fries to their lives with bigger houses, bigger vehicles and bigger boobs. While I've managed "in large part" to avoid the growing epidemic, even I have fallen victim to one aspect- the beauty of bulk shopping.
I can't tell you when and where it started exactly, but stores like Sam's Club, Costco and BJ's are now commonplace on highways everywhere. Initially stores like these were started with the small business in mind. They had to go somewhere to buy their vending machines and scotch tape, so they'd order from a huge warehouse, big enough to stock the goods that they needed. Of course years ago we never thought about where small businesses got these items from. We were perfectly content just shopping with a regular sized cart that could fit everything we need plus a whiny child, often with room to spare.
But somewhere along the line, the overstock option trickled down to the everyday consumer. Suddenly buying 10 sodas on double coupon day at ShopRite was just not adequate. You needed to get 20 sodas for the party that you weren't having-- all in the name of being prepared. I suppose if you're looking to point a finger, you can blame this need to plan ahead on the likes of the seeds planted by the Boys and Girl Scout troops of America.
So you go and you stock up on things you "need" as if you truly believed Prince when he said we could all die any day. But Y2K came and went and people continued to shop as if everyday was a rainy day. Go into a local bulk warehouse on any given Sunday and you'll see what REM was talking about. People are shopping like it's the end of the world as they know it, but no doubt, they feel fine, all while waiting in a massive line.
But warehouse marketers aren't stupid. You might stop in places like these for logical necessities like toilet paper, water and deodorant, but while you're there you also end up picking up 24 precooked chicken sandwiches, a 10 pound bag of Hershey's miniatures and a snow shovel or two, just cause it seemed like the thing to do at the time.
And there's yet another reason to subscribe to the
For starters, no pun intended, they often have featured products to try at awkward times of the day. Remember, you usually go shopping somewhere after breakfast or before lunch, but when it's not quite dinner yet. So basically, you've been fed for the day, but your next feeding is still long enough way so that the general waft of those toquitos or whatever else is cooking, will kick your stomach into high gear. Before you know it, your "linner" (lunch+dinner) becomes the things you munch, things which, incidentally always taste far tastier when trying them in the store than when you cook them up at home, of course.
It seems the American public seems to have the chills for products that are multiplying, but all of this reminds me of a wise saying I once saw on a No Fear t-shirt, of all places. "He who dies with the most toys, still dies." Yes, just like anything else, trends, food and even people all have one thing in common--expiration dates.
For better or worse, I don't see any of this changing anytime soon. In the meantime our solution to our cups continuing to runneth is to just go and grab another glass. We live in the moment and stock up for tomorrow.
After all, there will always be more where that came from.
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