a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by thenewgreen
thenewgreen  ·  4066 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Most Important Word

    My great country is easily the most materialistic society that’s ever existed.
Are we sure about this? Materialism runs rampant in many societies, both current and past.

Quick story about that word, which I agree is one of the most important:

When my wife was about three years old she was extremely precocious. She always had to know what everything was and how it worked. All day long she asked, "why." After an entire day of answering the "why's" that she had, her father finally said to her, "young lady if you ask me 'why' one more time you are going to your room. She paused, thought for a moment and said to him, "how come?"

Trust me, we'd all like to ask our politicians "how come" or "why" but the likelihood of receiving an honest answer is next to nil.

I enjoyed the chef/waiter analogy!





rboone  ·  4066 days ago  ·  link  ·  

No, we're not sure about that. That's a pretty speculative claim, and a subjective one at that.