A WORD ABOUT OVERINDULGENCE
This week some on line credit company, Badcfredit.org rated Wilkes Barre/Scranton aka NEPA as the fourth most indulgent area in the nation. They cited the fact that we are overweight, in debt, drink too much and smoke. I’m sure you have your opinion and have heard a plethora of others. Here’s mine.
I think the word overindulged is just plain wrong. When I think overindulgent, I think of “Dynasty” and “Dallas”. I think of car elevators. I think of the 1 per cent spending a million dollars on a Sweet 16 birthday party. I think of the freaking Kardashians. When it comes to LuLac land, we are anything BUT indulgent!
The very word and study implies that we have money to burn. Just the opposite. We have poverty wages in most of our jobs and those who have the “better” jobs are connected. This is an area that is hard scrabble and not indulgent.
Let’s take them one by one:
Obesity: There are those who just like to eat. Then there are others who battle weight all their lives riding that escalator of fit to fat and then back up and down again. But the truly obese are those who are poor and can’t give themselves the food choices that are healthy and they need. A Sure Fine Soda is cheaper than a Vegetable Juice.
Tobacco: The rate is decreasing but people still smoke. I attribute that to bad habits, your family situation and stress. Stress because you are too fat, behind on your bills and drink too much.Or you just like to smoke. I love the smell of burning tobacco but think lighting up is just too much work.
Alcohol: From the time this region came to be, there was a bar on every corner. Drinking is ceremonial here. Competing brands, bars and businesses promote tossing back a few. In this area we celebrate just about anything with a drink. Hell, you can’t even go to concert and sit your ass down for a two hour event without buying a ten dollar beer. That’s not indulgent, that’s either stupid or additive
Bad credit: Most of the people that I know who carry credit card debt are people who use their credit cards as a way of keeping afloat. The wages are so pathetic here that most people use credit cards for food and other necessities. Living paycheck to paycheck, most people have to use credit cards for eyeglasses, dental emergencies and even medical expenses. I’m sure if badcfedit.org looked further and saw the underlying expenses or reasons of the debt, there wouldn’t be trips to Jamaica, Europe or a shopping spree at Nordstrom’s on the monthly statement.
I really think this study is superficial. You have to look under the surface. But why we seem to go overboard is not because we are overindulgent. We do this because in most cases it is all we have to aspire to. If there were viable Chamber of Commerces who did their jobs and brought in pay scales that were comparable to other areas, maybe we wouldn’t be flipping over beers and hot dogs that makes us lose control.
Maybe we’d have something more than reaching for that little slice of heaven with a beer, fatty foods and a smoke. We might do these to excess but we are nowhere near overindulgent.
Excuse me now while I put away the fine china, get into my Porche and pick up my nephew coming in from Harvard for spring break! After that, I’m taking my overindulgent ass to France for a thirty day vacation. But let me know how Lawton makes out, heyna???
SHUBILLA EVENT
Plains Township Commissioner Tom Shubilla. (Photo: Shubilla campaign).
