Gold: Living in the age of excess

It seems to me…we are living in the “age of excess.” Every phase of our lives is saturated with some form of something we already have too much of and we eagerly await the next form or level of excess.

I was well aware of this problem and trying not to dwell on it but last night a TV program put me over the top. There was Alec Baldwin hosting a “try to be a look-alike Mini-Me Oscar Awards” but instead it turned out to be an awkward high-schoolish NFL Awards program. I never learned who selected the winners.  Perhaps it was the same people who pick the Oscar winners or maybe the folks who select Miss East Trenton. With long-time football awards like the All Pro Football game and the Football Hall of Fame do we need an annual football best of this position and that position awards ceremony? And before I leave football, have you seen how many Bowl Games there are now? About the only unused bowl name left is possibly the toilet bowl.

When it comes to food, restaurants, especially fast food types, are constantly trying to give the word “excess” a new meaning. For most of us, one patty on a bun is enough but we are now offered two or three patties on a giant bun with some other stuff to help raise your cholesterol level to equal the current level of the Dow Jones. Then, for those who want to move up two or three belt sizes there are the buffet restaurants with their “so you think you have a conscience” menu.

While we may treat our bodies badly on the inside, the outside is no longer overlooked. There are people who have more tattoos on their bodies than pictures in the Louvre and National Museum of Art. Now, if tattoos were enough to cover a person’s body, our excess society adds body piercing through parts of the anatomy I don’t want to mention.

One would have thought that the Internet and email would have been enough but no, they gave us the ability to Tweet, Twitter, Instant Mail and Facebook to name just some of the electronic social programs and we are encouraged to use them all at the same time and all day long.  But the good news is future generations will have the strongest, most dexterous thumbs the world has ever known.

The auto industry knows excess and gives us options galore and vehicles that have over 400 horsepower to be used on roads that are in need of repair, most too narrow and curvy and most built for 1950 style cars.

Each year the clothing industry brings us new styles to replace what they told us we had to wear last year or face humiliation each morning when we arrive at work or attend a social event. Women are generally the main target of shoe excess with an enormous number of styles to choose from that range from ridiculous to bizarre and create business for orthopedic physicians, physical therapists and others who have to correct the results of heels to high, toes too pointy and platforms that challenge balance. And yet, the women’s footwear industry can’t produce hosiery that won’t run or tear through toes but that doesn’t hurt sales.

Any discussion of excess can’t ignore drugs, alcohol, a wide variety of substance abuse and sex but since these have become such a common part of our social fabric they don’t need much explanation.

It seems there is a mob mentality that either demands greater excess or just goes with the flow and becomes part of it by default. It almost seems that we don’t care about the effects of excess perhaps like the folks in Sodom and Gomorrah.

A wise man once told me that he lived his life doing everything in moderation to excess. Now that is something we should aim for.

Harvey Gold is a contributing writer at the Stafford County Sun. Reach him at info@staffordcountysun.com.