the cost of things

june 23, 2024

my mom doesn't like lines, and waiting in them, and money is often one of the primary ways she evaluates things. we went for ice cream the other night and her first comments included an attack on the character of the line, of its length, of the way it wound through the parking lot, and of the doubtful cognitive abilities of those standing in it. her second comment was wondering how much cash the place was piling up on an evening when hordes of townfolk demanded ice cream.

i think its pretty common to be this way, to use money as a way to judge a thing or to describe it. there are probably more interesting ways to participate in life than by considering the costs of things. my blind spot is almost certainly drink, rather than money. how does drink distort a man's idea of his company? there was a Hemingway scene i recently read in "the sun also rises" where the narrator is in a restaurant with his homies, but truly he is disgusted and hateful of his companions but he begins drinking and everyone becomes really nice. everyone becomes really nice because of the poison he has taken that has deceived his perception. the role that alcohol plays in sustaining mediocre or just plain bad relationships is very interesting. college is a grand time to be inducted into this bad habit.

for this reason i can understand and admire someone who gives up alcohol. but im not ready to give up meat. the cheese burger, the fried chicken, are some of the finest examples of civilzation. i have yet to be humbled by the world in such a way that i can see the path to no meat but i'm closer now to seeing that it could be possible.