Did microwave ovens ruin the world?
I am starting to wonder if we are too spoiled to ever be happy.
I run into more and more impatient people everyday. I can’t believe that we are this spoiled. A couple of weeks ago, I was at a coffee place waiting for my mochachillfrappacocca ice drink and another customer was complaining because she had been waiting for more than 5 minutes for her coffee. Five minutes. She sounded like it had been an hour.
And internet dating? I know my regular readers are very familiar with the experiences I have in this realm. I, having logged enough hours on dating sites to qualify as a frequent flirter, never thought I would have any bad words to say about my last hope for meeting men. But let’s look at the bigger picture for a moment. My friend Amy mentioned to me that she feels that intertnet daters are so quick to give up. They all know that the next person, the next date is only a couple of clicks away. As a result, most of them don’t have the slightest problem deleting you from their profile and their lives. Have we turned our love lives into nothing more than a online shopping experience?
Fast food drive-thru, order your prescriptions over the internet, DVR all your shows so you can still go to the kids’ soccer game, on demand video at home, food delivery services, microwave ovens and instant coffee, sneak previews and movie trailers 4 months before a movie comes out, buy your groceries, eye glasses, a McDonald’s cheeseburger and get your hair cut all at your local Super Wal-Mart.
No wonder we have no patience for each other. No wonder why the number one public service announcement right now is not telling us to vore, prevent forest fires, or not to drink and drive. The one that is getting the most air time right now is “Don’t shake the baby.” Apparently we are all so full of anger and impatience that this abuse has become an epidemic.
The biggest queston of all: How come the more time-saving devices they invent, the less time we all have? I dare all of you to do one thing this weekend manually that could be done automatically. Wash your dishes by hand, cook a meal FROM SCRATCH, walk to the grocery store, call your friend on the phone instead of sending that quick e-mail, let’s see if anything changes if anything is different.
But who am I to judge? I don’t even have time to do my laundry.
As I read this I am enjoying a brief stay at my parents’ house. We are in the middle of farm country. No microwave, no AC, no TV, internet yes but that’s about it. Everything here is exponentially slower and simpler. The minute I arrive here I always breath easier and I swear to you time moves slower here than the rest of the world. A day is a long time. Cooking a meal requires preparation. Eating it is an event that lasts over an hour because everyone is talking and enjoying themselves. No one is in a hurry to be somewhere. We play board games and go fishing. You’d think a 10-yr-old city-savvy kid would lose his mind with boredom but it has the opposite effect. He has sharpened his imagination and gained a greater appreciation for 101 human interaction. Oh, and doesn;t really want to go home.
Yes, the microwave (and TV and phones, and cars) have ruined the world.
Hey Sonya its me. It is 2:14am and I was catching up on your blogs they are so funny. I need a laugh these days Madison has been a handful. I made éclairs by scratch now I have 20 extra pounds