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Our Lazy Society

No Suggestions, Just a Rant

By Gloria Diaz

Check out Gloria's Blog — Edge of Gloria!

Fort Wayne Reader

2010-05-25

A co-worker (Hi Sarah!) suggested this column’s topic, something I haven’t written about but snippets of it have floated around in my mind; I just needed a focus. The subject is laziness.
We’re all guilty of it, to some extent. Sarah mentioned the drivers who can’t be bothered to really turn the steering wheel; these people don’t turn corners, they swoop around them. She also mentioned minute rice and instant oatmeal as some of her beefs with our do-nothing society, along with people who don’t return shopping carts back to the store (remember that quaint custom?) and can’t seem to even get them into the numerous cart corrals that dot store parking lots.

One of my beefs, of course, is aimed at people who work a mere eight hours a day. At a desk. As someone who has worked 12, 13 and 14 hour days, without an informal lunch break, who has a job that requires lifting, I wonder how many of these desk jockeys could hold up under the pressure. And yet, they must know something I don’t, because these ass-sitters are living in houses bigger than mine.

Another problem I have is people’s inability to do simple tasks without help. Certain models of washers and dryers have overpriced pedestals available, so when they are mounted on them, the person doing the laundry doesn’t have to bend down as far. I guess there are people stupid enough to pay $200 and up for these wonders of the laundry world, but if you’re smart enough to make $40,000 a year or more, why the hell are you wasting money on this crap? If you really want your machines boosted, buy a few two by fours and nail a platform together. I bet the materials would cost $50 or less, resulting in a savings of $150, by not buying the pedestals. Oh wait, I forgot. Building a platform is just too much work. It’s easier to spend money.

We want everything at our doorstep, it seems. Years ago, when I worked in Huntington, I remember someone complaining they didn’t want to drive across town for something. At the time, it seemed Huntington was maybe three to five miles end to end. I can’t remember if I laughed when I heard that person complaining, but the “lazification” of society has crept up like weeds on a vacant lot. Slowly, but surely.

The Segways are bad enough, but a few years ago when I went to the Shipshewana Flea Market, I saw a 12 year old delighted at the fact he could rent a scooter to navigate around the place. Granted, the flea market is the largest I’ve ever been to, and it does require you to be able-bodied in order to walk it, but to see a young, healthy-looking kid delight in an invention designed for those with health problems, well, it made me a little sad.

And it makes me wonder—could today’s 18-20 year olds have stormed the beach at Normandy? Furthermore, would we have WANTED them to? It’s rare that I see kids out doing any form of exercising—God bless those skateboarding kids. I’d be terrified I’d break something if I stepped on a skateboard, but for those kids who actually go outside and play, kudos.

But for the rest of the adults, what will become of us? We have heated car seats, drive thrus at fast food restaurants, companies that will deliver restaurant food, restaurants with their own delivery services, Netflix, mail-order catalogs, and the Internet. There are already people out there who get by without working, and there are those who say they want jobs, but won’t accept anything that requires heavy lifting or tasks that might get their hands dirty. The ones who will survive are those who will get up off their asses. And from what I see, America is in big trouble.

I’d write more, but I have to get to the drive thru. I’m hungry and I’m…just too tired to cook…yeah, that’s it.