GOING ONCE, GOING TWICE, SOLD!

Do you ever have one of those grown up moments, a stark reminder that you are now an adult who is concerned with adult things?  Yesterday I was in line at the Canada Post outlet in the Shoppers Drug-mart, shipping back my broken PVR to Bell Canada (see earlier posts re technical unsupport for details) when I noticed that the Royal toilet paper was on sale.  $4.99 for a 12 pack of TP, and me without my wallet!  The first thing that came to mind when I looked over at the sign was "man, that's a steal."  When I went back to work I shared my good fortune with my co-workers.  We were all in agreement, $4.99 was an excellent bargain for Royal toilet paper.

I reflected on this experience tonight on my way to Walmart, to buy the scrubbing bubbles shower cleaner that I swear by.  It occurred to me how odd it was that this is what my life has come too.  Sales on toilet paper illicit raised eyebrows of fascination and wonder at my good luck.  How driving across town to get the shower cleaner I like is just a fact of life.  When I was 16 I never gave a second thought about the going cost of house hold cleaner/supplies.  Hell, when I was 21 I still didn't give a hoot!  I had other priorities.  I had dreams and passions and I believed I could change the world, or I believed that the world would change for me if I asked, pretty please??  My generation was going to save the whales, bring world peace, end oil pollution in the oceans all the while handing out wads of cash to everyone in our free and equal society.  We were going to use peaceful protest to change the world.  We'd write strongly worded letters to our political leaders & our media, and if that wasn't enough we'd be the political leaders and own the media.  Now, if there's a sale on Tide laundry detergent, it's enough to make my heart skip a beat.

So what happened?  Did the world beat that passion out of me?  Have a I actually become so jaded that it takes a bargain to breathe some life back into me?  I guess the reality of it is that a lot of our youthful ideals, while noble at heart, were far to big to have been accomplished in one generation.  I still believe we can get there (maybe not to the handing out wads of cash bit unfortunately).  Probably I could be doing more to help, though I have been known to write a letter or two to various politicians & media outlets.   I suppose our priorities change as we get older, and we realize that the world will not change for us just simply because we expect it to.  So we do what we can to make our lives, and the lives of those around us better, by purchasing satiny soft TP at a discount price.  

Still, I wish I could channel some of that youthful passion and optimism somedays, even if it was merely focussed on housework...  

Cheers,