Bad Milk, Fire Hydrants, And Shampoo

One of the things that drives me bonkers about living in Vancouver is consumer friendships. If I received a $1 for every time a friend jammed out on a planned activity because of "unforseen circumstances", "double-booking" or "bad planning" or whatever, I'd earn enough to buy a place in Monaco or perhaps on the Italian Rivera. It's ridiculous.

Tonight I'd planned to spend time with a couple of guys, but one by one they cancelled out and our plans went down the drain like milk gone bad.

On the other hand, I'm planning a weekend get-away with our community group next weekend, and the level of non-commitment is astonishing. People are all talk, until it comes to action. Once action is required, the excuses come out like water out of a fire-hydrant.

I'm convinced that the root cause of this is utilitarianism and consumerism. I had a conversation with someone earlier this week who told me that post-modernity has reduced humanity to "consuming animals." We are consumers in every sense of the word: socially, physically, economically, and for goodness' sake, even spiritually. We make decisions not based on what is truthful and right, but on what's most practical and economical.

I think he was right. Everything we do nowadays is a consumer decision, based on what will benefit us most. We participate in whichever events will benefit us most, and worse, benefits are not even weighed in terms of people (ie - who do I want to spend time with?), but in terms of entertainment (ie - what will we do? will it be fun?) We put about as much thought and commitment into our friendships as we put into buying shampoo. In other words, not much.

It's frustrating. It's pathetic, and it's bloody shallow.