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Dec. 11, 2007 As you may or may not have noticed, the winter is in full swing and what better way to show that one is clueless, regardless of the season, then trying to be trendy, right? As summer went away, and the flip flops and Crocs went into the closet, out came the good old Uggs or, as I like to refer to them, the thing that makes mothers and daughters look equally cliche. As a people watcher, I cannot bear to see these atrocious pieces of over-priced footwear destroying the ankles of our wonderful women and draining the pocketbooks of their people-pleaser parents. Trendy as they may be, and as comfy as claimed, one has to wonder just to what lengths people go to be "cool." Now, I must admit, I am a gadget nut. But my gadgets all have some practical purpose. But, since the season is upon us, these purchase decisions are made without the realization of consequence. Flip flops, for example, are bad for the feet and unnatural, just like a high heel. These cozy-looking boots, with their tongue-in-cheek name, are impractical. They lack support for the foot and, as I have seen time and again, lead to the structural collapse and the pronation of the ankle. I'm not a doctor, but that can't be good. But how else do parents get to show their children they love them? It's gotta be tough, especially for people with obviously too much money and too little time. What better way then to lavish over-priced things on your children, right? Maybe I sound cynical but I am. I don't see the use in hiding the fact that I would rather have people make better financial choices then to put a $200 boot on their 5-year old. I'm not a parent, and, as such, I am in no position to talk. But if I were the last thing I would concern myself would be impulse and trendy purchases for my kids. Sure, I want them to be happy but my parents didn't lavish me me with whatever I begged for and I turned out pretty okay. In fact, I am grateful to have been given less. It made me appreciate what I had versus what I didn't. Today I now feel I have more than enough and learned to be generous. The true culprit in all of this, I believe, is the doll makers. Sure, they seem innocent enough in all of this. but, behind it, our little girls got the idea that it is fun to dress up and buy things for our toys. When they got older, they wanted living dolls. Too bad all they got were children. That's when the priorities went awry. Instead of giving them what they needed, shelter, food, love and knowledge, we thought that it was better to just pacify them. And then you get teenagers who become useless adults who don't get off the teet and don't know how to handle money and crisis and responsibility. We're seeing it more and more now: The dumbing down of America. So, the next time you find yourself wanting to just shut the kid up and make them stop begging for more stuff, think about those that have little or nothing: Those that can barely make ends meet. I'm sure they could give you a tip or two. Now if we could only get our government to think the same way about corporate welfare... ------------ About the author: Nicholas Olson is an aspiring playwright and former journalist. He spent parts of his high school, college and professional life as a journalist, serving as a military journalist from 2000-06. Mr. Olson is an avid writer and enjoys political opinion. His views are not that of any particular party or of the country he once served: They are his own. Email: nicholasjolson@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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