Gluttony

My all-or-nothing nature has found a new diverson to sink all of my energy into: Scrabble. Yes, a game I have oft scorned now has me hooked. I have played twice in the last 24 hours and I just scheduled another game for later today. I also watched a full game that others played, making that 3 games in 24 hours (even though I only played in two).

Now all of this reminds of my the seven deadly sins. In particular, it reminds me of the sin I associate with most strongly: gluttony. I always said I was clostest to gluttony because I really like to eat, but now I see I was taking too narrow of an interpretation of gluttony. Gluttony is all about consumption is vast quantities; you always want more and can't get enough. In a way, that's a little like greed. This interpretation of gluttony actually makes the distinction between gluttony and greed awfully fine. Is it greedy of me to have such an all-or-nothing personality? Is it greedy of me to want as much Scrabble as I can fit into a day? Once I decide I want something (ie once I become enthused), almost no quantity will satisfy me. That's awfully greedy. But then again, that's awfully gluttonous.

I'm going to stick with gluttony because I don't want all of everything. I just want all of whatever it is I desire. Right now I desire Scrabble and will play it without abandon. I know I'll eventually get tired of it and move on to something else which I will consume with equal fervor.

Really, the gluttonous life is not such a horrible way to live. I occasionally wonder about its status as a deadly sin. I guess in theory you could consume so much that others go hungry, but that's not really the case so much in society today. The people who produce the goods we consume would always love to be making more of their goods. There's really no shortage of anything in America. It's a consumer society built for gluttons like me. Some people might not have enough money to consume all that they want, but we are perpetually encouraged to be as gluttonous as possible- to desire as much as we can fit into our pudgy mouths. Gluttony is a desireable trait nowadays. It also seems to be the status quo more than anything else. We can always buy the nicer phone, the bigger car, the better house. Commercials and other media want us to always be desiring more (in effect, to desire their product) and it has created an environment where gluttony is accepted and encouraged. Perhaps gluttony would be more villified if we ever had a shortage of anything (people do mock the gas guzzling cars to a degree, but the real critique on those cars won't happen until there's enough of a shortage that people can only fill up on certain days of the week). But as it stands, there is no shortage of anything.

Right?

I don't see any shortages, but I live in America. Other countries don't have everything they need. Looking at it on a global scale, there are shortages. So that means this is a time when gluttony should be critiqued the most. I'm sure it is being critiqued quite a lot. But none of that critique seems to reach the ears of the public. Or at least, not the public in America. So perhaps gluttony should still count among the seven deadly sins. I think it shouldn't be if we always lived in plenty where no one was left without, but I'm not sure that's even possible. Things cost a certain amount. For people to consume all they want (or are told to desire), either the goods have to cost less, or they have to be paid more. Our society has chosen to make the goods cost less, at the expense of underpaid workers in sweatshops (among others in the so-called developing nations). Those goods don't actually cost any less, but to satisfy our gluttony, we force others to pay part of the load for us. By wanting more than we have the means to pay for, we are forced to subjugate others to satisfy our gluttony. I suppose this is the point at which gluttony becomes a sin.

So now I have to decide, is my gluttony a sin, or the more cuddly kind? To be honest, I don't want to think about it. I want to play Scrabble so strongly, that I'm definitely tempted to write it off as silly and preposterous and go back to my fervent Scrabble playing. I mean, really, what's wrong with Scrabble? It may be that with some extra thought, I could justify my enthusiasm to my own satisfaction, but it could also be the case that I might find something wrong even in simple Scrabble playing. It does sound silly when I read that back to myself. It's a simple game and it seems harmless, but I don't choose to accept that a priori without giving it some further thought. But therein lies the problem. I don't want to give it any further thought. I want to continue playing Scrabble without regard to any conseqeunces there may or may not be. Some gluttonous things seem like they do no harm at first glance. Gluttony in America, a place of plenty, looks like it should be fine. But when you scratch the surface, you can find a lot that's wrong with it. I don't want to scratch the surface of anything I'm enthused about, even if it seems like I won't find anything. Sigh. It's sad coming to terms with something like that.



The tides in my personality are starting to turn. I didn't quite make it to all (I didn't fully examine Scrabble), but now I'm starting to lose interest. I think my rant just went from all to nothing, and perhaps in record time as well. The guy I'm scheduled to play with at 6 (Omer) lent me a book about Scrabble. Now I'm going to paw through it and maybe memorize some of the 2 letter words. He's a long time player and I want to give him a good fight.