Eating from the good china

Are you familiar with the saying that starts with, “Eat from the good china” and lists numerous other ways to enjoy yourself? The idea is, of course that you should live life to the fullest, always. Agreed. But you know, that china thing got me thinking....

I have some china that was given to me. I use it daily but not because of some stupid saying. I just figure there's no point in having/buying something you're not going to actually use. How stupid and wasteful are we, as a society, that we have plates we don't use sitting in a cupboard we never open just because it's tradition to do so? No wonder no one respects us any more.

And what makes the good china any better than the everyday plates, anyway? Who decided that china should have an elevated position over other dishware? Didn't that rumor get started eons ago by some guy trying to sell china? I bet. And ya, it's pretty. It's also not durable or practical at all. It breaks if you breathe too hard on it. How is that considered high quality again? By whose standards?

Why do we constantly fall for this illusion of product grandeur presented by our consumerist society? Crazy, isn't it? I've even personally witnessed people getting angry with each other over brand choice. I've noticed that those arguments usually have to do with motorized vehicles.

Apparently, you don't really have a motorcycle unless it's a Harley. You don't really have a sports car unless it's a Mustang. And apparently, those cute little plates you absolutely adore but bought at dollar tree can't hold a candle to fine china.

Who says?

Who put manufacturers in charge of deciding what we like or what we prefer anyway? Nobody. We just blindly go along with it. Sadly, most of us won't even admit they've got our number and punch it in daily to their advantage. They're so good at it, we don't even see it sometimes!

Maybe that's because most of these ideas about product quality are so firmly rooted in our society that they're accepted as fact. Meanwhile, we're turning our noses up at perfectly decent food, clothing, etc. because they're simply below our so called standards.

Folks, there are people out there in the big, wide world drinking from mud puddles and glad it rained so they could. There are little children going to bed hungry every night, literally starving to death. And here we are, arguing over which bottled water/soda pop/beer/wine tastes best.

We're pathetic.

And speaking of wine, please stop swilling it, swishing it, sniffing it and turning your snooty nose up at the “bad” year. It all means absolutely nothing in the scheme of things. Be glad you have some wine if you like it. Personally, I think it all tastes like fruity ear wax. But maybe I just “don't know my wines.” Hah!

In other words, what a bunch of absolute hooey we let ourselves get roped into by people trying to sell us the goods. Stuff is just stuff. It's all the same. Folks, please. Be who you are. Like what you like. You don't have to “Be a Pepper” unless you really want to and FYI, it doesn't make you special if you are.

Have it your way? You bet. That one I agree with.

But in the end, it's all just a pile of junk riding in the trash truck to the dump or being crushed at the recycling center to make more stuff we don't really need isn't it?

The only quality we should be worried about can be found within the content of our own character. Got a lot to work on in that area myself, as witnessed by the judgmental slant to this post. So, off to do just that!

Here's to finding peace through self improvement!