It seems to me that too many things in life have become overly complicated.
For example, take buying light bulbs. Oh, remember when that used to be such a simple thing to do? You drove to the hardware store, went to the light bulb aisle and spent a few seconds looking at the two varieties: indoor or outdoor, grabbed a bulb that seemed to be a good replacement, paid for it and returned home. Of course once you got there you usually discovered you bought the wrong bulb because – funny how this happens – the room went dark when it burned out and you couldn’t see what type of bulb it was, and then because you stupidly unscrewed it while it was still hot you burned your fingers and tossed the bulb across the room where it smashed into a million slivers, scaring the poor dog into having an accident, and thus it became impossible to tell the brand of the bulb or the lumens or the wattage or any other distinguishing feature about it. The only thing you knew was that you had to quick sweep up both messes before your wife got home. At least that’s the way I remember shopping for light bulbs. Not anymore.
Have you been in the light bulb aisle recently?
My God, if ever there is a place where seemingly-intelligent, normally self-secure adults become statues of indecision it is here. Next time you’re in the light bulb aisle just take a look at all the poor souls shifting nervously, heads hung in resignation, fingers twitching in anxious agitation, glazed eyes gazing out over an endless array of choices. And everyone is watching everyone else like there’s going to be some epiphany for your own predicament based on others’ choices. But you don’t dare ask for advice because light bulb buying is supposed to be simple, right?
And when you look up there the bulbs sit, stacked high on shelves as far as the eye can see, mocking you, just daring you to make a bad choice. Out of habit you reach for the old standby incandescent (but if you have even the slightest sense of environmental morality you dismiss this relic) but then there’s CFL, halogen, LED, metal halide, sodium vapor and who knows what other type of newfangled light technology emerging from laboratories these days. Then there's oval, spiral and tube type, and once you figure all that out you now have to consider longevity. This bulb has one year lifetime and that bulb has three and some go all the way up to six year claims. Who in the world keeps track of how long a light bulb lasts and how would you even know if a poor, old burned-out bulb expired well before its duration?
Frantic at the time wasted you close your eyes, cross yourself, choose and head home to make the replacement. Good, your wife is not yet home and the dog seems to have forgiven you (although there is that stain to worry about) so you replace the burned out bulb with the new one and the heaven’s open in relief because it actually screws in without trouble and lights up. Ta-da, success!
You decide to hide the receipt that shows you paid $12.99 for a triple-tested, NASA approved, super-duper, three-way, warm-glow bulb that has a ten-year transferable warranty. You are content you have light and life is simple again.