Saturday, August 2, 2008

King of Ramenia

The bar has been raised higher for each consecutive generation. Thousands of years ago, if you made it through the day without being eaten by a tiger you could call it a success. If you came home with some meat or fruit there was a celebration in store.

We have exploded past our survival days. Excluding cars, mortgage payments, and laser tag sessions, if you make $10 an hour you can keep yourself fed for a month after one day of work. If you told a farmer a few hundred years ago he could live a year off of 2 weeks of work, he would have burned you at the stake.

For any other time there were two options if you didn't want to work hard. You could be king, or you could be dead. Considering the fact that most kings who just sat around and ate all day ended up dead anyways, there was really only one option.

I've never plowed a field or haul giant bricks up a mountain. I make money without having to stand up. It is really quite ridiculous.

The world is not at the point where everyone can have 3 meals a day, but I think it is tiptoeing in a positive direction. Each new ramen factory brings us one step closer to ending world hunger.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"Thousands of years ago, if you made it through the day without being eaten by a tiger you could call it a success. If you came home with some meat or fruit there was a celebration in store."

Now-a-days the elders just brain their eldest, most fruitful daughter with a big stick, and steal her offerings. Since only one in a thousand kids can think outside the 'cave' so to speak, this practice is quickly qualifying it's enthusiasts a special place on the endangered species list.