Rush To Tomorrow

FTLComm - Tisdale - Tuesday, February 5, 2002

Its not that I haven't complained about this issue before but these spring flowers in the first week of February really bring to mind the incredible dash forward, fast forward movement of our world. No doubt retailers are only responding to the demands of customers to a certain extent but we also have to consider that marketing analysts will have determined that dividing the year into a series of sales campaigns makes retailing and marketing sense. What does this constant emphasis of the future do to the present? It might be argued that the marketing strategy of always leading us forward is healthy because it gives us a prospective toward something. Humans love anticipation, even more that what ever they are anticipating so we might suggest that the marketing of up coming events gives the consumer a positive outlook. Though that argument has some merit is also has a serious flaw. To really live life to its fullest we really need to have a grasp of reality. We need to have a sense of the present and enjoy each wondrous moment after each wondrous moment, savouring the gems and blessings that come with each breath for themselves. I would contend that constantly adjusting our awareness to some ever moving horizon in the future is as delusional as living in the past and being unable to shake off the elements of life that shaped us rather than enjoying the results of that formative period in our lives. I love tulips and daffodils, it was a joy to see them in Beeland Co-op this morning, so much so I needed to preserve them in a captured image. I even felt a little guilty, like I was getting a free ride just taking those pictures transported me into spring and that was when I realised that indeed that is not reality. There is much to be enjoyed today, in early February. The advertisements suggest that I have already missed out on Valentines and that I have only minutes to snap up some great bargain for valentines day which in the real world is still ten very long days away. Give yourself a break, see today, then tomorrow, then the next day. Let the hype and advertising go unnoticed, now is what's happening. Timothy W. Shire