As I've worked to get into shape for a summer's backpacking, I've been aware of what a huge market there is for quick fixes. Almost every time I go online, there's an ad telling me that if I pay only a small monthly fee, I can get in great shape and look sexy without having to change my normal schedual. Although it's nothing new or surprising to me, I'm always fascinated by what seems to be a general fear of having to face consequences. In case the connection's obscure, let me elaborate. These "get fit quick" schemes wouldn't last if there wasn't a significant market for them. People want all the benefits of a good workout schedual without having to actually work out. They know the consequences of an inactive lifestyle, but they refuse to change, and so go taking drugs that have had no long-term testing, or they buy devices that give them small electric shocks, despite a lack of data on long term effects on the nervous system. It seems people are almost willing to risk sacrificing their health to avoid working out. They are afraid of the consequences of their lifestyles, and so they go to extremes to avoid facing those consequences without changing.

The same is true for many other issues. People suing companies for making their coffee "too hot", or blaming other countries for the presence of mercury in our atmosphere and water. Never mind that lukewarm coffee would be unsatisfying, and a little care would prevent burns. Never mind that we can't get other countries to change their habits, but we can change out own. We are moving rapidly towards the time at which we run out of the resources we depend on, and yet there is no significant effort spent in trying to find another way. In 80 years, there will be essentially no iron left to mine. Our source of steel, which we (the human species) so rely on is measurably finite, and yet we still chargesimilar amounts for steel as for potting soil. At this point, I won't discuss the situation with fossil fuels because it's being discussed so much i can't think about it right now.

We are living in a particularly shortsighted era. The president of the United States of America believes that the best way to stop forest fires is to cut down forests, and that lumber mills exist to "serve" national forests. The mental health of out nation's children is considered less important than coal prices. Thousands of people are killed for ever changing reasons. Thousands of people are starving and dying of treatable diseases while the American government spends trillions of dollars on new way to kill large numbers of people. All this, and the big political debate of the year is whether or not homosexuals should be allowed to have civil unions. Does anyone else see a mixed up order of priorities?