So I had a potentially life changing realization at the Supermarket yesterday. It happened as I was on my way to check out. I was making my way back to the front of the store, about to decide which checkout line to use. As I scanned the prospects, I noticed that each line had one (maybe two) people checking out, which promised for a uniformly short wait. So I then progressed to determine my preferred line based on the other criteria we all use: apparent friendliness of the checkout person, appeal of celebrity magazines, draw of strategically placed candy or gum, etc.
It was then that I noticed the considerable line at the "Self Service" counters. For those of you who perhaps live in a section of the world that hasn't embraced the idea of self-service checkout (Cuba, Afghanistan, Oklahoma…), these lines are the descendant of the "9 items or less" counter, promising the ability to check out quicker by allowing people to scan a few of their own items, pay a machine, and be on their way. However, based on the disproportional wait being experienced by the customers who had chosen to utilize the "express lane," it appears that the appeal of the line has become something other than expediency.
This was my moment of clarity. Though I will admit, it is perhaps not so ground breaking a discovery as I originally perceived. It is, in all probability, just one of those things that come along with the quarter life crisis of being jaded by a world that unapologetically kicks the crap out of our idealistic youth and leaves only a cynical remnant of ourselves to carry on into our thirties. But hey, what may be just another part of growing up certainly seemed like a revelation in the checkout line.
We are a society of individuals who are being laid victim to our own self-indulgence.
This is where you say, "Duh."
Yes, I know, the assertion that Americans are self-indulgent is about as profound as saying that professional athletes are paid too much or that politicians are dishonest. So why bother wasting the time writing it down? Because the behavior demonstrated by my grocery store counterparts portrayed both the process by which we are jading ourselves, as well as the pathetic result.
This is where you say, "Eh?"
A couple of generations ago, aspiration meant something very different than what it does today. People aspired to greatness –to achieve heroic feats that would carry on through history, to contribute to society, to impact the world. Today, peoples' collective sights are set on acquisition, on vacations, 410ks and corner offices. It started with the baby boomers who sought to give their children everything they never had. They devoted their efforts to 80 hour work weeks and settled for brief passing moments with their families. In doing so they succeeded in giving their offspring all of the things they never had as children: toys and cars and clothes - and none of the great things they did have: time and guidance and discipline. The desire to improve our families' standing perpetuated through generations, and the race for advancement has required more and more streamlining. In the 80's parents quit having time for their kids, in the 90's they quit having time for each other, today people don't even have time for themselves.
Today's go-getters are slaves to efficiency. We have created a generation of get-it-now personalities fueled by the internet and over-compensating gift-giver parents. Our workdays span to the 25th hour and our race pace requires cutting corners at every opportunity. Thus, having cut out every viable time-consumer (formerly known as people) from our hectic lives (kids, spouses, selves) we now further streamline by removing the once necessary stranger. No longer do people answer phones or check you out at the store. They have been replaced, to improve efficiency and profit margins for business managers while helping consumers avoid the schedule threatening human interaction that might impair them on their quest for efficient living by engaging them in the now feared casual conversation.
So what is the wrong in that? What's the problem with improving our lives and our societies by allowing the mundane tasks of yesterday to be completed in solitude; by eliminating the need for unskilled workers and replacing them with electronic stand-ins. Perhaps social efficiency is the next step in evolution, bringing us closer to our next step in human existence. The problem is one of dilution. The problem is when the quest for efficiency has us chosing interaction with machines over interaction with each other. And this is my grocery store revelation.
Self indulgence is the enemy of passion.
The process has played out over the last generations and promises only to get exponentially worse with my own. As a society and as individuals we have sought to satisfy our selfish desires, to improve the socioeconomic status of our families, and have spread ourselves evermore thin. Like a runner chasing a finish line that perpetually outpaces us, we continue with incrementally less and less energy to devote to our struggle as time goes on. The finish line that once represented landing on the moon or solving world hunger now appears to be internet fame or corporate middle management. And in striving for our ever diluting prize, we have shed all of the things that once made the race worth while: the family experiences, the exhilaration of witness the TRUE greatness of others' accomplishments, and the simple joy of human interaction. If this cycle is not stopped, our quest for mediocrity may cost us our very lives.
So what is a runner to do when the finish line is perpetually out of reach, and the race serves only as punishment? Keep running, just quit racing. Screw the finish line. Slow down and enjoy a pace that allows you to truly experience the journey. Take back on the "burdens" you once shed in the name of progress. Go down the stairs to other peoples' offices and talk instead of sending a mass email. Walk to work. Try being intentionally inefficient. Take vacation days for no reason. Quit buying things that you can't afford. Think about making a difference more than making a profit. Aspire to personal greatness more than professional greatness. Even better, help someone else in their proverbial run. Carry them on your back, it will inevitably make you slow down even more. In making these changes, your prize will be your passion. You will receive a renewed sense of purpose that can be found only in the efforts required to make a lasting contribution for others. In taking your eyes off of the finish line, you will be free to identify new goals, true feats of greatness, and thanks to your decreased pace, you will possess an enthusiasm and strength to attain them.
This may sound a bit Disney Channel-esque, but the perception of such a fundamental truth as cliché only further reveals our jaded progress into cynicism. If any of the people in the long-wait express lane at the grocery store ever took the time to read this, I am certain that they would pat me on the head and give me a pitiful look, perhaps expressing how cute it is that I still cling to such a naïve perception of life's purpose, warning me that the day will soon come when I will join the race, when I will take the next step toward social progress.
In some ways, they are right. The long line of dispassionate lemmings at the grocery store, waiting with their baskets of low-carb sustenance represents the next step in human evolution. Unaware that they even made the decision to interact with a machine rather than an actual human being, they represent our next big leap in human progression towards increasingly technologically advanced, hyper-efficient living. And the fact that I spent my day in a cubicle, staring at a computer and not outside enjoying the beautiful cloudless day is evidence that I am not entirely excluded from their ranks. Our society is progressing. And if buying my groceries from a machine instead of a person is the next step forward, then regression is our only hope.
Slow down.
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