Instant gratification in the United States

Tony Ares
Published: July 1, 2008

Why can’t politicians just tell us the truth? Maybe because we are all spoiled rotten. I read endless letters to the editor bearing complaints about speed limits. 

Nevermind that you are more likely to die from a traffic related fatality than terrorism and/or tornadoes combined. Many of those fatalities are directly related to excessive speed. 

Also with four dollars a gallon gasoline, you would think that we would want to slow down anyway.  Newsflash! The slower we drive, the greater the fuel economy. We don’t slow down though, because we
only truly believe in one thing in America today — instant gratification. I occasionally speed as well, but I don’t have the audacity to write into the paper and complain about the speed limits after I do it. 

This issue is just an allegory to the greater concern in America.  We are so out of control, irreverent and ill-temperate, that this country may not rebound from the Bush years. 

We need a wake-up call and quick. The scariest thing is that 9/11 didn’t wake us up. It only plunged us farther into our consumer driven depravity. Maybe instead of speeding all over the place like mad
men, we should heed the advice of the Spirit using the Hebrew Psalmist and, “Be Still And Know That I Am God.” 

TONY ARES

Woodbridge