Ready in 5 Minutes

I want it all and I want it now! To contrast last weeks post on the Things in Life that are Important, it’s time to take a look at instant gratification versus gratitude. It seems to have taken over and is certainly rampant, perhaps a little too much.

With a slowed economy, dramatic world events, the collapse of the auto industry, climate change and other global issues it’s a wonder people are thinking about taking care of the now and not tomorrow.

Ready in 5 minutes

We want an instant cure, fast food, immediate responses, instant banking, real time information. A google search that takes 0.01 seconds to retrieve 12 million results is slow! Snail mail barely exists. Sure some of these things might save us our personal energy but at what cost? Perhaps a little more time should be spent considering tomorrow.

If one doesn’t take time to fertilize soil, plant seeds, water and care for the ground then the future will bring barren land. Nothing will grow. The same is true with the price of instant gratification in real life. There is a cost to pay. The materials, resources and energy that we use to attain things are proving to not be sustainable. The rate of our consumption is dramatically catching up with us.

The Personal Cost

But there is a greater cost. The attention span and attitude that comes with instant gratification plays a toll on the people around us. We lose character traits like patience and consideration. Patience is a strong skill for leadership, nurturing and understanding. What goes next, compassion?

Health and welfare are certainly playing a role. Let’s mortgage the future for today. Spend now and worry about paying for it tomorrow. Those instant foods have plenty to be concerned about. If you can’t pronounce it, it probably isn’t good. The convenience of getting things now, driving to the store is paying it’s toll.

We are getting larger, lazier and even noisier. For many people with sensitivities, society is a lot more distracted. It’s difficult to read a book on a bus if the person next to you is yacking on the phone about what Mitzy did on Thursday night. The sense of importance in texting that message is unreal. A fire is a real emergency, not gossip. The emergency might be the accident that was caused because you were to busy texting to worry about driving!

The Global Cost

We are using more resources and contributing less to society as a whole and more to our own individual bottom line. If we took a small portion of our energies and focused it on resolving some of the major concerns in the world such as poverty, healthcare, disease and environmental issues such as climate change and CO2 emissions instead of putting our hot air into a microphone or computer we could get a lot resolved.

Sorry about the rant today but ask yourself the question “Why do I need this now” and “Am I forfeiting my future or that of future generations” before you do something. Changes in the world are not about a bunch of little things. It is apparent that dramatic change are needed now and stepping up to the plate involves everyone’s participation and attention. Thanks for caring.

if you liked this post, take a gander at these ones!

• pay attention to your surroundings, don’t be a zombie
• good company, the power of the cultural creative
• The Power of Pears: Simple Living Personified
• the impact of materialsim
• a survivalist, extreme or just lean