All Things in Moderation

September 6, 2007 by David.

You know, if there is one word that could single-handedly define modern American culture, it would have to be excess.

Try ordering a small drink at Wendy’s sometime. You’ll get the options of Medium (the new small), Large (the new medium) and Jumbo (the new bladder-buster). I made the mistake of ordering a medium lemonade once. Apparently, the girl behind the counter did the translation for me (she assumed I meant large) and handed me a cup that could have stored half of Lake Michigan in it. Ironically, because of the 35 pounds of ice inside, there was barely room for the actual drink itself, but I digress.

Go to any gas station and look for a “Honey bun”. More than likely, what you’ll find is the Jumbo Honey buns. Yikes - those suckers have enough calories to feed Indonesia for a month. And we down one by ourselves here in the US.

Fattest nation in the world. Yup - US. Wealthiest nation? You got it - US. Biggest houses? Oh yeah, US by a long shot.

Even our SUVs are stupid big. Seriously, I see veritable tanks - probably getting 2 Mpg - on the highway all the time. Even more confusing is the fact that there is only 1 person inside these monsters of the road. ONE PERSON! I’m not an environmentalist, but for goodness sakes, is the 8 foot tall by 20 foot long SUV with a V-120 really that necessary to commute in Atlanta?

Don’t get me wrong - I’ve succumbed to excess as much as anybody. Who, in their right mind, would have 3 iPods in the same house? Or three computers?

*lowers chin and mumbles a lame excuse *

We even have an excess number of churches. Some countries - entire countries, mind you - only have a handful of churches. I haven’t counted, but I’m pretty sure that I pass at least 1,352 every day to work. At that, at least half of those are “First Baptist…”. Seriously people, we can’t ALL be first. Ahhhh, American excess at its finest…

So, what’s my point? Sure, it’s nice to have an abundance of things but the truth is that we’d all be better off if we moderated our lives more. We really don’t need the super-Jumbo size Wendy’s meal with a Vanilla frosty (yum). The standard sized, sans Frosty, is more than enough for 98% of the population - if not more than enough. We really don’t need the Venti Cinnamon Dolce Latte, Sugar-free, Fat-free light whip coffee from Starbucks. A small coffee with sugar and cream probably would have been perfect.

Look at the benefits of moderation and you’ll begin to notice a difference. Moderate your food intake and you’ll probably not be obese. Moderate your television viewing and you’ll probably have more family time. Moderate your car size and you’ll probably have more money (by not burning it on fuel).

It’s a pretty simple concept really. All things in moderation…

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