There are, however, a few things that seem less reasonable to me:
- Insurance on your cell phone that you pay monthly and then pay a deductible when you use it…and you may only use it a certain number of times.
- Protection the cable company offers in case you have to have a technician come out and service your wires or equipment you rent from them.
- Warranties available for additional purchase on electronics (read: Best Buy)
- Credit protection for purchase on credit cards, checking and savings accounts
While I try not to give in, there are times when I wonder: Should I have these things? What if my credit card gets stolen? What if my iPod quits working? What if I drop my cell phone in a toilet?
What-if land is a dangerous place to go. I consider it a necessary place to visit, like Washington D.C., but I definitely wouldn’t want to live there. Constantly processing outcomes that may never happen is a sure recipe for living with fear and worry.
There is a Swedish proverb that says “Worry gives a small thing a big shadow.” If we let go of our fear and worry and live in the moment, most of those outcomes we were processing will never occur.
And really, would it be so bad if on occasion they did occur? I live for the day my cell phone runs out of power and I can’t be reached. Imagine a week!
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3 comments:
Will I worry? Hell yes! Will I be happy? You bet!
Maybe worrying is not such a bad thing.
Like you rightly said about AAA membership, some of these safety nets are reasonable. I would also add that some of the services are circumstantial and for the most part reasonable to some groups. Maybe ensuring that you have a cell phone all the time or can afford one if you lost it can make a life saving difference. A company CEO or a Physician on call, you name it. Similar analysis of other services should reveal why they thrive. People certainly consider what they have to give up by not signing up for that credit protection, or warranties on electronics. Trust me, you don’t want to misplace your bank card and have some bum run it up? To simply self-insure against the rear occasions that any of these ill-fated events may occur seems outright irresponsible for some people who cannot afford it.
On a different note! Perhaps, Americans, including ME need to be “liberated” from too much FEAR. Our desire to curb uncertainties very often ends up creating more of it (I threw that in for you). But if our risk aversion factor has gone to a margin, would recalibration not be a better solution as oppose to a rebellion? We need moderate solutions, I mean real solutions.
My overriding point is summarized. It is misleading when some think that advancement begets independence. But the reality is that most forms of our social and economic advancement has rendered us more dependent on a system that we all helped create and terrified by the opportunist services that it attracts. And some of us know too much now about the hollowness of the system.
Let me throw in another ‘fillet’ for you and push the envelope on your idea - maybe most of the things we do as a society have no real value. It is all in an effort to redistribute wealth(crazy capitalist). True! The system may be a complete nonsense when we tear it down to the bone. See, we value junk and pay nothing for true value. Like real freedom. You must like that – tell me if you do.
I disagree that it is irresponsible to not sign up for insurance for things. Perhaps if you have a loan on something, like in the case of a car, it makes sense. But so many of these things are unnecessary. I don't need a cell phone. I don't need a bank account even. When you think about it, I don't need a car or a car loan either, so I'm back to my original point.
Like your last point...you know I do. I'm a big fan of saying things don't exist or make sense.
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