Instant gratification, that thing that requires our servitude, steals our money, and enslaves us to our desires. I am always amazed at the number of people that buy those cold beverages in the refridgerators next to the checkout lines. Just today I saw a man and woman with their child each grab a bottle of cold soda from one such refridgerator. For the amount of money they shelled-out for those 3 sodas, they could have purchased a 12 pack and still had money left. I am sure they did not buy those sodas because they were dying of thirst. To my knowledge not one single person has ever died from thirst between the check-out counter at the local grocer and their refridgerator at home. So one might wonder why people (especially in these economic times) don't purchase a 12 pack of sodas, take it home, put it in their fridge, and then it will be available when they get home. I am sure the answer is instant gratification .... people want to have what they want at the very moment they want it. It's not that they can't wait; it is that they don't want to wait. Of course, then they wonder why they have no money. Credit card companies have bilked the general public allowing them to buy things they don't need, can't afford, but want.
Today people don't enjoy anticipation, they skip right past it. One of my favorite things is the growing anticipation I feel at the beginning of the Christmas season: anticipating the friends and family with whom I will be able to spend time, contemplating the face of each loved one as he/she opens a gift I selected especially for him/her, and looking forward to curling up with a cup of hot tea and that book I have been wanting to read. (I know this sounds all "Norman Rockwell," but it is what I like.) I rather like the words of Star Trek's Spock, "You may find that having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting. This is not logical, but it is often true."
