Friday
Apr182008
Montel, I couldn't be happier with the new me!
Friday, April 18, 2008 at 07:33PM
I was on the elliptical machine at the YMCA here in Kokomo, IN today. I was listening to the new Counting Crows record on my ipod while the tv in front of me was tuned to the Montel Williams show. The closed captioning was on so I could read the conversation as I worked out.
This particular episode was about "regular" people changing their lives "for the better" with plastic surgery. Everyone he talked to A) looked really unnatural and weird and B) had spent at least $40,000 for this "improvement".
As I was working out to burn off a few pounds I don't need, I watched these people, proud of their "accomplishments". The irony was overwhelming and incredibly disturbing.
America, maybe this little recession isn't enough. Maybe a purpose-less war and a giant national debt aren't enough. We are praising people for spending tens of thousands of dollars to temporarily reverse the effects of their gluttony, in a world where millions of children starve to death each year.
For the cost of one of these people's plastic surgery, 104 kids could be sponsored through Compassion for a year. For $40,000, seven children can be sponsored from the age of 3 until the age of 18. That's 15 years of food, education, housing and health care.
Would you like some fries with that?
This particular episode was about "regular" people changing their lives "for the better" with plastic surgery. Everyone he talked to A) looked really unnatural and weird and B) had spent at least $40,000 for this "improvement".
As I was working out to burn off a few pounds I don't need, I watched these people, proud of their "accomplishments". The irony was overwhelming and incredibly disturbing.
America, maybe this little recession isn't enough. Maybe a purpose-less war and a giant national debt aren't enough. We are praising people for spending tens of thousands of dollars to temporarily reverse the effects of their gluttony, in a world where millions of children starve to death each year.
For the cost of one of these people's plastic surgery, 104 kids could be sponsored through Compassion for a year. For $40,000, seven children can be sponsored from the age of 3 until the age of 18. That's 15 years of food, education, housing and health care.
Would you like some fries with that?
Reader Comments (11)
AO you are right on! We are living in a shallow country right now. Our "beauty" is shallow. Our "wealth" is shallow. I would go so far as to say our "freedom" is pretty shallow too.
Keep up the great posts!
our family visited thailand a couple of years ago. after seeing all the poverty and visiting the orphanage where we adopted our son from, i had a problem seeing a mobile pet grooming van when we got back to canada. i thought of all the money that is wasted on stupid things.
i don't want to offend any pet lovers out there but in comparison to human life and suffering, there is no comparison.
i'll take my fries super sized. :)
Wow...that is all.
i think a lot about my wonderful little girl in uganda, and how far a measly little $32 goes in her life. $32 isn't much, even for a starbucks barista. but i often think about her when i do spend money frivolously ... and my spending wasted dollars on new clothes or fast food (both things i don't need) isn't really all that different from the plastic surgery, is it? maybe in dollar amount, but not in the heart idolatry that is causing it.
great show tonight, btw. hold the light was amazing ... of course i loved that song before, but now it's definitely a favorite. i've decided that everyone who sees you play live simply has to become a fan. it's, like, compulsory ... how could it NOT happen??
Andy, thanks for posting this. I most definitely agree. My wife started supporting a child through compassion when we were in college and now we're still supporting her, and we haven't missed a beat. She pays at the beginning of the month, and we never even miss the money. We're living fine and more than surviving. Still, at the same time it's hard to figure where to draw the line on our own lives. What does it mean to truly support and uplift and help the poor? Jesus told the rich young man to sell all of his possessions, give the money to the poor, and then come and follow. But we don't even do that here (and I, as Paul says, am the worst of sinners). How much is enough? How much is too little? Could I give up all of my CDs and books (and I have a ton!)? Could I give up the comforts of living well? Of having to worry about gaining weight? Of having to go to a place to exercise to lose weight, especially when others are so hungry? I have 2 guitars. Do I need 2? We have a several thousand dollar electric piano (bought for us by my wife's parents so that it would be easier to move than a regular upright). Should I sell that? But I love music. But does Jesus calls us to give up even these things that we love? Tough questions that I think about a lot and that I have absolutely no answers to. (either that or I'm avoiding the answer that would be most painful to my pocketbook and my songwriting). It's funny, I'm actually preaching today on James Chapter 1:19-27, where, at the end, James writes "if anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Powerful and tough things to think about.
very true...
What do you think of the new counting crows?
Great post, Andrew.
Pretty convicting as I sit here typing on my $1400 laptop...
I think the real travesty overlooked in this post is the new Counting Crows album. It's terrible.
thanks for using this post to be a voice for compassion. what you say is so true.
Amazing thoughts. It's amazing how wasteful we are with our resources...America is very blessed, as are the people living here...contentment is something that seems like a foreign idea anymore....
Well put. And too true.
This is something I struggle with often. Sure, I'd love to help fund a mission in Haiti, but right now I really want to get this new Fishman Matrix acoustic guitar pickup. Yeah, I could sponsor a child through Compassion, but there's a 24-month no interest deal at the local electronics store and I've had my eye on that HDTV.
Sometimes it hits me how consumerism is just a black hole in my life that will never be filled. There will always be something newer, bigger, better that I can sink some money into.
So wasteful...