POINTLESS PLATES
I'm amazed at what you can buy these days! You can buy stuff to dry clean your clothes at home; you can buy bacon that's already cooked and crispy and in perfectly formed strips; you can buy stuff to spray on your furniture to get rid of the smell of Fido, or Uncle Frank. What will they think of next?
I've come to the conclusion that the steady stream of new products being developed for our "enrichment," and corporate America's PROFITS, will never end. Let's face it, we are incurable consumers who really think that life is easier now that we have that cordless electric kettle, or that clumping kitty litter.
Today, Sheila and I went to St. Stephen to visit someone in the hospital and then we took a quick jaunt across the St Croix river to Calais, Maine. Now, unless it has something to do with electronics, tools, office supplies, or computers, I rarely enjoy the shopping experience. Squeezing cantaloupes just isn't my idea of fun! But, when we go to the States, I make an exception. Why? Because as much as I hate to admit it, the US has a greater variety of 'stuff' than we do in Canada: from diapers to dip, there is a veritable plethora of products to peruse and purchase. Most of the time I find something new, or some new flavor that catches my interest, but then there are times that I come across a purchasing puzzle of sorts. Today was one of those times.
Imagine if you will, how much research and development goes into a product before a company finally decides to run with it. How many products make it to the sample stage, but then end up being cast on the corporate compost heap before they have the opportunity to see the light of day? I'm not exactly sure, but I would think that a conservative estimate would be around 70% of the new products under development die in total obscurity; never to tickle Aunt Sarah's tastebuds; never to be the sample of the month at Joe's Splendiferous Shoperama.
If my new product estimate is anywhere near the mark, one has to wonder why it is that some new iffy nifties actually make it to the store shelves. I, for one, will never understand, nor forgive, the appeal of squeezable cheese. As far as I'm concerned, if you're not an astronaut, you have no business touching the stuff! But, having said that, squeezable cheese has nothing on the new product that insulted my intelligence today.
Do you know what I saw for sale in Calais, Maine today? Sit down and get a cold compress ready. I found washable, reusable, disposable plates. Think about it folks! What could be more useless than a disposable plate that you can wash and reuse? Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the entire concept of disposable plates revolve around the fact that after you've used it, you throw it out? Don't people buy paper plates so that they don't have to wash them afterwards? What am I missing here?
I don't know about you, but I already have enough guilt over throwing out normal paper plates! How could I possibly cope with throwing out a plate that I could wash and reuse instead? — especially when it probably has the half-life of uranium 234! Gee, with corporate thinking like this can washable, disposable diapers be far behind? I can't wait!
I guess what bugs me most about this washable, disposable plate thing is that it is a concept far removed from it's original intent. When those rugged pioneers of the culinary arts first put plastic fork to soggy plate, they never intended said soggy plates to be washed. I will go even further and strongly suggest that disposable plates were created solely for those times when washing was impossible, or impractical. But what can we say is the purpose of these aberrant plates? The focus is gone; the vision has been obscured, and we are left to wonder about the future of paper platedom--will family gatherings and backyard BBQs ever be the same?
Well, while you ponder such things, I would like to suggest a lesson we can learn from this less than ingenious invention — don't lose your focus; don't lose your vision! The Church has sometimes been reinvented into a social club, a political movement; or simply the thing respectable people do. Preachers have sometimes preached another gospel, or somehow removed the good news from the gospel. Without our original focus; without our original vision, a church can become a fortress instead of an outreach; Christians can become finger pointers instead of loving embracers.
Obviously, the Church has to reinvent itself as it seeks to effectively communicate the Gospel, but let's make sure that no one is ever left to wonder what we stand for, or the purpose for which we exist. Our focus must always be on Christ and our vision must always be to make dedicated, joyous followers of Christ — otherwise, we might become just as useful as a washable, disposable plate!
If this Whatcha has kicked your thinking in any way, or if you would just like to talk, e-mail me by clicking on my name at the bottom of this page.
