The past few days, since I recovered from my illness, I had an interesting E-mail exchange I'd like to share. My cousin wrote me about a package of Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies he was opening. He said that "the cookies are half the size they used to be." It was ironic that he sent that to me while I was nibbling on a few Triscuit crackers. I wrote back that I noticed that my box of Triscuit's had gone from at least 12 ounces down to nine-and-a-half ounces, and that the crackers seemed smaller. This got me thinking about things as they were and things as they are now, and how we keep losing our ability to do things on our own.
I live in one of the most expensive areas of the country. I work in probably the most expensive real estate district in America. And yet, almost every day, I bring my meal with me to work. I can't see spending even seven or eight dollars a day for food from a local restaurant. Figure, in the course of a week that adds up to at least $30, but probably more like $50...and hang plenty of extra weight I surely don't need on my middle. So my wife and I cook (more her than me). I also invested several years ago in some good quality Pyrex food containers that reheat nicely in a microwave. (I don't believe in using plastic to heat food in a microwave.)
Unlike me, one of the guys who works under me buys food at least once a day. He may spend $15 a day on takeout at the office. At the end of the year, that's more than $3,500 to feed your face at work. My stews and chicken over rice or noodles with an apple for dessert probably costs me less than half of that.
When I was a child, going out to a restaurant -- even a Burger King -- was a luxury. We ate at home. Rarely we went out, and often to a diner. I remember how amazed I was when I learned about all-you-can-eat salad bars, and never knew what to pile my plate with first. Your breakfast, lunch and dinner came from the home...although most of my lunches were subsidized cafeteria food. Today, when meals are eaten at home, they're largely heat-and-eat, while the recipes of our mothers and grandmothers sit on shelves collecting dust.
We see it as a sign of so-called progress in our culture that we don't fix our homes, prepare our food or even clean our own clothes. As a culture of convenience, we've lost our know-how and outsourced our everyday chores to others. I have friends who pay people to hook up their clothes dryers because they don't know how to run a hose. We've uneducated ourselves on the basics of life because spending those few extra hours at the office every week enables us to buy a guy who'll hook up an $8 piece of flexible line for just a $100.
Rather than looking at our stock market, bleak as the news has been, we need to take stock of ourselves. It's not enough to worry over material health, but rather to begin concentrating on our ability to be self-reliant. This doesn't mean that I think everyone needs to run out and skin a moose, but take the time to invest something other than money in your life. The returns for you, and the children around you, will be far better than shares of stock.
***The Judge***
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