How it works the wrong way

When we think of consumming less we naturally think of consumming less bad for you things, like beer and ice cream, or always buying the latest fashions in shoes and clothing and tossing last year's wear in the trash...

But apparently Americans - at least those here in our area - are consumming less knowledge. I suppose that is conservation of a sort.

My excellent hubby is a geography buff and had been enjoying teaching our 5 year old son countries on his little globe. Having practically mastered all the 'big' (geographically speaking) countries he wanted to get him a bigger globe. He had seen one that was half way in between our small one and the regulation sized at Target. But when we got there it was no where to be found. Hubby asked an 'associate' who at first did not know what he meant.

"What is this globe you speak of? What does it represent? Oh, you say an orb that is a map of the earth! How novel!" his perplexed look seemed to say.

So clearly there is a problem... but then we ran into another associate who said that globes were 'seasonal' items. Clearly Target places an emphasis on geography comprehension only at certain times of the year...

Undaunted we drove across the street to Mervyns. They had no globes. Our daughter did get a nice new Hello Kitty backpack for when she starts school. I know, I know, consumption. We could have just as easily gone to the thrift store or passed down her brothers backpack. She doesn't actually need one, it is all part of my scheme to get to her learn to use the potty - part of the bribery and cohersion part - no potty, no school. Hello Kitty backpack = enthusiasm for going to school. With our son school was enough. But either she is very clever or not as interested...

I digress. So hubby leaves us at Mervyns to browse and goes over alone to the dreaded Toys R Us. No one in their right mind actually takes children there! But there is one shoddy little talking globe without even all the countries and questionable scale and mapping.

Still undaunted he drove back across the street to Office Depot. There, was one, lonely globe on the shelf... which we now own.

So the question is, don't people own globes anymore? I owned a globe for years even after school just to look at and ponder! I highly doubt if all the available globes had been hungrily snapped up before we got there...

Yes, Jay Leno pokes fun at Americans for not being able to find their own country on a map and other global ignorances. I used to always think they tossed out the smart people to the editing room floor and kept the numbskulls. But what if I am wrong about that and actually most people are ignorant of their world. Scary thought.

So while I normally say Consumme Less, in this regard I have to say we all need to consumme more. More knowledge, more information, more understanding. Afterall the world is always in style... although it could possibly go the way of last year's pumps... yikes.