Sunday Morning Thoughts - February 25, 2024

So much on my mind - brain dump time!

What's up with shrinkflation? I mean, I think we’ve all noticed packaging getting smaller while the price stays the same. It’s been happening for years. It just got a lot more noticeable during the past year because there was so much of it. Everybody’s doing it. Everybody is saying that they didn’t raise prices. Well maybe not the price per package, but that’s not the point. Some companies have left the size of their packaging the same, there’s just less in it. Then there’s some that have shrunk theirs. Imagine this – you make smaller packages, that takes time and effort, and a lot of the old packaging needs to be thrown out. All your packaging machines need to be re-configured, re-programmed and whatever else needs to be done. All just to fool the consumers into thinking prices have stayed the same. INSANE!

And breathe!

I started writing something on Wednesday about AI and imagination and children being deprived of the opportunity to let their fantasies roam free. It made me sad. When people my age asked their parents or grandparents what they thought a giraffe would look like with a short neck they had to think and maybe draw it together. It was a bonding moment of creativity. One with a lot of laughs because nobody knew the answer and those giraffes looked super funny. Nowadays you just ask AI to create an image for you. How freaking boring is that?

My favorite thing growing up was to imagine the worlds described in books. Worlds that I escaped into. How sad that kids today are growing up with screens in front of their faces where everything is already created? No room for original ideas or thoughts or funny pictures. Yes, the internet has made our lives a whole lot easier but I’m still glad it wasn’t around when I was growing up. I would have missed out on so much.

I’m now working on finding a good balance of being online and offline. I mean, I love sharing thoughts with people from around the world – of course I do. But there is also the stress of being online all the time. Life was simpler before. Not easier but simpler.

Also on my mind is avoidance. There will probably be another newsletter on procrastination and avoidance. I was reminded of it when I read about anxiety disorders. Avoidance feels great! Avoidance is what helps you in the present moment. Avoidance is what you need at that time. Avoidance is just not what helps you heal and move forward. It’s so difficult to realize that. It’s even more difficult to figure out what’s behind it. Is it perfectionism? Is it the fear of failure that keeps us from getting things done? Realizing that avoidance isn’t the answer makes us anxious – help! Vicious circle anyone?

I mentioned an exhibition on slavery in part 4 of my Quick trip to Paris newsletters. One quote I read reminded me of what people in the 18^th century (and much later still) thought about indigenous peoples. Let me quote just part of what was said at the Club des Jacobins in March 1790: “On ne leur suppose d’intelligence humanine que pour obéir et souffrir”. This translates to people only being given credit for having enough human intelligence to obey and suffer.

One might argue that they didn’t know better. I guess that’s partly right, but also nobody was trying to learn from indigenous peoples or went in with an open mind to start with. Those were savages they encountered. That was that. Never mind people intruding on their land. Never mind people claiming any piece of land they “found” as theirs. Never mind the language barrier. Still today we think that people who don’t speak our language perfectly are somehow less intelligent. But all that is a far cry from thinking it’s okay to own other human beings and doing horrific things to them.

That’s where dehumanization comes in. If we look at people as less than human, it’s easier to treat them as such. There’s some scary rhetoric out there right now. We have learned nothing – nothing at all. We are all human – humankind. A total misnomer if you ask me. Missing the kindness. Missing the WE. Missing the humanity.

As I mentioned before this exhibit on slavery and the fight for freedom had reminded me of the Verdingkinder – a dark part of Swiss history. Today it also reminds me of the debate on women getting the right to vote in Switzerland. Women were thought to only be useful for domestic work. Even driving was too difficult for us. Our brains are not made for complicated tasks. And no, this debate was not going on in the 1800s. This was in the 1970s. If you're interested in the topic "The Divine Order" is available on Amazon Prime (possibly elsewhere) and if you're in Switzerland on Netflix.

A conversation with a friend reminded me that women in Switzerland were unable to work without their husband’s permission or have their own bank account until 1976. Yes, you read that right. And it was not until 1988 that a new marriage law was introduced, and it was no longer THE LAW that the man was the head of the household and that it was the woman’s job to do the housework. 19 – freaking – 88.

We’ve got a long way to go. All of us. Let’s make sure we move in the right direction. The direction of progress.

Happy Sunday everyone.