Thinking Out Loud, Volume CCCXII

Have you ever visited an old home place of a famous person in history? I've done it a few times, and I find it fascinating. One of them was the home of General Robert E. Lee, located in Arlington, VA. One thing that struck me about his home, which has been the same in practically all of the old homes I've visited, is how small everything is compared to the sizes of the same type of items that we see today. The staircases, the dishes, the beds,and even the homes themselves are much smaller than what we normally find in today's world...at least in our country.

If you are married, what size bed do you and your spouse sleep on? I dare say that the vast majority of you sleep on a queen or a king size bed. Both of those were unheard of a hundred years ago. I'm not complaining, because I prefer a bed larger than full size. As a result, however, the larger bed requires a larger room, which means a larger house. One does have to wonder, though, if we will ever reach a stopping point on everything getting bigger. Will king size beds ever become too small for us? Is bigger always better?

Why are our dishes larger than they were a hundred years ago? It's because the population demands it. That reminds me of something that I've learned about myself. When it's only Angie and I at home, we just fill our plates from the pots on the stove, and if I will use a smaller plate, I end up eating less. When I use a larger plate, I just naturally get larger servings....hence, more food is consumed. What I've discovered about it is, although I eat less on the smaller plate, I'm still satisfied at the end of my meal.

American restaurants have discovered that we are willing to pay higher prices for our meals if they give us larger portions, and that results in larger profits. We've now become so spoiled that we complain about smaller portions, even if the price is less. So, how is this affecting us? Well, obesity is running rampant in our society as we enter into this new millennium, and that results in a less healthy populace. Yes, everything is bigger now than it was a century ago, including the people. So, is bigger always better? You tell me.

Preston