Mesa Legend - ARCHIVES - Vol. 40, Issue 8


Volume 40, Issue 8. Today is .

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Volume 40, Issue 8.
January 21, 2003

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Too much is not enough

Racheal Brown, Opinions Editor
Racheal Brown
Opinions Editor

Too little being too much and too much being too little will be the legacy of our society.

This seemingly melancholy statement can be looked at in a different shade of blue.

Clearing the haze of contradiction and seeing our hypocrisy for what it is, human nature, which is very amusing.

Our privileged lives allow for freedom to indulge our self-imposed limits and self-defeating nonsense.

So, we fully exercise the right to stunt our collective and individual growth, and then explain it away by blaming the mere presence of our ability to indulge these rights.

On the other hand we all have heard the familiar cliché, “Why did you climb the mountain?”

“I did it because it was there.”

"Ironies of Our Society," by George Carlin state these absurdities in complete eloquence.

“The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.

We spend more, but have less.

We buy more, but enjoy less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.

We have more degrees, but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life.

We’ve added years to life not life to years.

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.

We conquered outer space but not inner space.

We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

We’ve cleared the air, but polluted the soul.

We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.

We write more, but learn less.

We accomplish less in more time.

We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait.

We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships.

These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes.

These are the days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom.

A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or just hit delete.

Give time to love, give time to speak and give time to share the precious thought in your mind.

“A closed mouth gathers no foot.”