Commodities

Our Declaration of Independence from England includes three examples of what are referred to as "unalienable rights." Those rights are as follows: Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. What exactly does the term unalienable mean? These are essentially rights that cannot be taken away from us. I suppose I should point out that happiness and the pursuit of happiness are not one in the same. At what level we obtain happiness is largely up to us. If you disbelieve that many people fail in the pursuit turn on the television any day between the hours of 9AM and 5PM; there are more miserable people than you can shake a cattle prod at. If you tune in to reruns of the Jerry Springer Show or (JSS) you will feel your IQ, drop 20 points. Not only is this demographic miserable and bored with their own existence but (according to the commercials) they all seem to be in search of a disreputable lawyer. There is one good thing about this show however, after you watch it, you WILL walk away feeling better about your own life. After all, the tight-fitting white tee shirt has not been coined with the term "wife beater" for nothing. One might even say that the (JSS) is a commodity of sorts. Demented and sad, but nonetheless an American commodity.

Just for the sake of conversation, I should point out that happiness and pleasure are not one in the same. While the pursuit of happiness may be a right, pleasure is merely a by-product of happiness. Unlike happiness, pleasure can be bought like any other commodity. Both Grape Nuts and thick slab bacon can be consumed for breakfast, but one is for pure pleasure and the other is for cleansing your colon. Have you ever noticed when buying two boxes of cereal (one sugar-laden for kids, and the other for colon health) the sugar filled one will be gone within days and the other will just sit there until it goes stale? This is because doing the right thing and the mere intention of doing the right thing are not one in the same; at the very least they are two sides of the same coin. Here in America, we have many good intentions but how many of those intentions come to fruition? For instance, consider for a moment whether or not you have a gym membership that you never use. Evidently Americans are hooked on the idea of having money taken out of their checking account (monthly) for no reason whatsoever.

Having a better understanding about the difference between happiness and pleasure can better advise us about the proper way to live our lives. One might (rightly) point out that a person who chooses to go through life on mind altering drugs might just be trying to escape the memories of a bad childhood. But I should point out that it is a waste of time to merely put a band aide on a cut that needs stitches. If you are spending your Saturday nights tying one on like Otis Campbell in order to stave off the effects of a messy divorce that might suffice as a temporary fix to a long-term problem. Because, once the hangover is gone the memory will still remain. This just means that (while well-intentioned) you did yourself yet another disservice.

Plastic surgery too has become a crutch that many people have begun to lean on. I suppose if you have enough funds at hand, you can fight every crow's foot on your face tooth and nail. Yet, in true American fashion, this like any fixation has become ridiculous. Whatever happened to the notion that whatever you get, you get it for a reason. I contend that aging is like any other natural process (that is to say like a barreling freight train) is impossible to stop. Trying to cover up an aging human face with plastic surgery is about as subtle as putting a bean bag chair over a grape juice stain on white shag carpet. Think back to the days when Betty White was still around. Betty opted to never have plastic surgery of any kind and to me she was better off for it. Well into her nineties she still looked great. Back in 76 she did have one procedure on her eyelids to keep them from drooping into her line a vision but remember by that time she was already in her mid-fifties. That's more like help with her vision than pure vanity at that point. My wife says even I will eventually have to have that done, oh how little she knows me. Did Betty look like an aging woman? Of course she did, that's because she WAS.

Have you seen Dolly Parton lately? She has had so much work done she looks like her face is an overstretched water ballon. in addition, when I see that the twenty-somethings of the world have already started getting their share of these kinds of procedures I know they have gone too far. At age twenty gravity hasn't even started to take hold yet. Courtney Cox too has also gone a little overboard with plastic procedures. She has begun to look like an alien from another planet. Folks, please take my word for it, there is nothing more beautiful in this world than a woman who has decided to let herself age gracefully.