Way too much!
On a recent venture to the store to buy toothpaste for my husband, I was staggered by the choices at my disposal. I counted sixteen different kinds of toothpaste in the brand he had requested. Everything from Cinnamon, Mint, Tarter control, sensitive protection, whitening pro-health, enamel strengthening, and so on. Now I am glad that I have all my teeth at the age of 55, but I seriously doubt that it is because of cinnamon being added to toothpaste. Besides, my husband just wanted plain Crest. Not mint Crest, not cinnamon Crest, not tarter control Crest, just plain Crest. It took me ten minutes to find what I wanted.
While in the “toothpaste aisle, I became trapped by a man and his partner and their super sized cart looking for “just the right deodorant”. I counted no less than twenty two times the man open the cap of a deodorant, sniffed and replaced the cap until he found the “right” fragrance. “Mmmmmm, I just love this Ocean Breeze Mist”, he said to his wife/girlfriend. “Mmmmmm, your’e right, it is nice, she cooed”. At that point Iwas ready to scream, “It’s freaking deodorant! It’s not French perfume!” I cound’t get by and I coundn’t stop listening and watching; sort of like not wanting to be involved in watching a food eating contest- you’re grossed out, but can’t turn away at the same time. All I could think of was 1: all the empty plastic containers from deodorants in land fills, 2: that Ocean Breeze Mist probably doesn’t smell anything like what I think of when I think of Ocean breeze mist and 3: if the man wanted to smell Ocean Breeze mist, he should MOVE!
How did we get to this point? We have more choices for soap, shampoo, makeup, pet food, than we can count. We are a nation of consumers. I admit it. I love my nail polish. I love to wash my hair. But do I need wheat protein or peppermint in my shampoo? I think not. Just something to get my hair clean, thank you. Same thing with soap. Wash your pits everyday and you won’t need deodant.
I was reminded of the scene from an old Robin Williams movie, “Moscow on the Hudson” of an Russian musician that defects to America and in one scene faints in a grocery store when overwhelmed by the choices he presented with. I was just about to do the same.
There is a movement to simplify, to use less. I hope that more will people will catch on. I don’t want the makers of toothpaste and other products to lose work, but perhaps with their ingenuity, they can work on things we really need, like less expensive solar panels, reclaiming water and more. Please don’t take me as a high and mighty sack cloth wheat grass drinking chick. I’m not. But the madness has to stop. When we have 16 kinds of toothpaste in one brand alone, that’s too much. When we have disposable “heads” on toilet brushes that “flush away”, because it’s too icky to keep a toilet brush in your bathroom, that’s too much. Although for years, disposable diapers have been touted as easier on the environment, ie, less water used, phosphates , etc, recent research has come to light that it is estimated that roughly 5 million tons of untreated waste and a total of 2 billion tons of urine, feces, plastic and paper are added to landfills annually. It takes around 80,000 pounds of plastic and over 200,000 trees a year to manufacture the disposable diapers for American babies alone. Although some disposables are said to be biodegradable; in order for these diapers to decompose, they must be exposed to air (oxygen) and sun. Since this is highly unlikely, it can take several hundred years for the decomposition of disposables to take place, with some of the plastic material never decomposing.
Americans needs to get a grip! We have lost touch with what it is to be human. We eat, we breath, we have bad breath, we poop and we can deal with it. We can use soap and water and survive. Other countries have been doing it for centuries and seem to be okay. Let’s give it a try.
Step Away and try a bath!
In my quest to find work that will supplement my husband’s income I think I have found the perfect job. As I peruse the want ads each day over my steaming cup of Lipton, the ad leaped out of the monitor at me and said “Here I am, this is what you have been waiting for!” Not far from me, tucked into the Hill Country apparently has emerged a Vodka distillery; not much unlike all the meth labs we have around here. Meth labs are very popular around here because they are easy to hide in the backwoods of the hill country and because of the noxious odors methamphetamine produces. Of course, there is the down side of a meth lab and that is the fact that 1, it is highly illegal , 2. you might get shot by a. the police or b. your competition.
Working as a temporary is as close to being a non person as one can get. There are so many facets of being a temp in an office setting it boggles ones mind. From the beginning when you register as a “temp” with an agency you are given tests to ensure you won’t pick up a box weighing over 50 pounds or show up to work under the influence of illegal substances, divulge company secrets, engage in unprotected sex to the more mundane typing and filing tests. There is also the point where you realize you are being interviewed by someone that is younger than your VCR and has had way too much coffee for your 15 minute interview that your drove an hour to prepare for. But then the day arrives, when Cindee from ABC staffing calls with an “Assignment!!!” and you go like a starving man to a feast. 
