Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Pro-Choice. Buffeted out.
In a world full of choices and chances, do we have too many? We ride through life, hungering for a path. But, in our quest for sustenance, has the buffet ruined us for commitment? Today, we can go through life, love and meals never having to choose and always able to go back for more. Will we ever buckle down and choose a dish?
Between mac n’ cheese, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes, the typical meal is one big speed date. We go along, moving from one sterno pan to the next. If we’re waiting for one, mass-produced dish to jump out from under that sneeze guard to please us ‘til death do we part, we might be waiting forever.
Each time that we step up to the plates, taking a new one and maybe even a fresh fork, we really aren’t starting fresh. Just because your plate is fresh, you’ll always have a few crumbs from your past lingering in your mind, and your plate, for that matter. The memories of a stale roll or maybe a little too much thyme in the stuffing will go back with you time and time again.
As we step up, without being able to step back and survey, is it possible to make the right decision? Just a meal, maybe, but do all of these options, bombarding us result in a complete lack of viable options? When we sit between a staffer and a meathead, what can we choose?
I’m consistently underwhelmed by the options presented. Sure, I think to myself, with all of these choices, I can’t help but find something I like. Then, after a meal of fillers, soggy vegetables and brownies of questionable origin, I’m really only struck by the indigestion that remains.
But then, choices can be good. I mean, how can you know what you want unless you know what you don’t? Checking out the buffet of life makes it possible to know that you’re really there for the cucumber salad. I mean, it’s chill, fresh and has just enough vinegar to challenge your tastebuds.
I may end up at the Indian buffet tomorrow. I may be too hungry to wait and just rush up and try everything right away. But after that initial run through dosa, lentils and eggplant, I’ll know what I want my second trip around.
Between mac n’ cheese, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes, the typical meal is one big speed date. We go along, moving from one sterno pan to the next. If we’re waiting for one, mass-produced dish to jump out from under that sneeze guard to please us ‘til death do we part, we might be waiting forever.
Each time that we step up to the plates, taking a new one and maybe even a fresh fork, we really aren’t starting fresh. Just because your plate is fresh, you’ll always have a few crumbs from your past lingering in your mind, and your plate, for that matter. The memories of a stale roll or maybe a little too much thyme in the stuffing will go back with you time and time again.
As we step up, without being able to step back and survey, is it possible to make the right decision? Just a meal, maybe, but do all of these options, bombarding us result in a complete lack of viable options? When we sit between a staffer and a meathead, what can we choose?
I’m consistently underwhelmed by the options presented. Sure, I think to myself, with all of these choices, I can’t help but find something I like. Then, after a meal of fillers, soggy vegetables and brownies of questionable origin, I’m really only struck by the indigestion that remains.
But then, choices can be good. I mean, how can you know what you want unless you know what you don’t? Checking out the buffet of life makes it possible to know that you’re really there for the cucumber salad. I mean, it’s chill, fresh and has just enough vinegar to challenge your tastebuds.
I may end up at the Indian buffet tomorrow. I may be too hungry to wait and just rush up and try everything right away. But after that initial run through dosa, lentils and eggplant, I’ll know what I want my second trip around.
