I like to eat out, my cooking gets old. My normal run of the mill eating out is generally a buffet of some type; salads, mexican, barbecue, chinese, or home style cooking, if the price is reasonable, I will check them out.

I have noticed a long time trend seemingly absent when I was a kid. Today for example, I was at a fast food place, and a young man filled his cup to the rim with ice, and then dumped it all out and refilled it halfway with ice. His friend asked him why he did that, and the young man answered, “Because I overfilled my cup.”

I see people all the time follow an identical pattern with napkins, condiments, and at the buffets. Plates of food piled higher than a party of three could eat in one sitting – for themselves, or taking an excessive amount of condiments. Most of the extra food goes into the trash. It seems the food industry has been evolved into an industry that now caters to gluttony, and sloth. It seems to be okay with the people on both sides of the counter.

Looking a little farther away from the food industry I see this ‘waste’ mindset is pervasive in many areas of our life. For example, salt has been used in oral hygiene for as long as salt has been around. Recently it is not good enough. Today salt and warm water has been replaced by expensive mixtures of alcohol, water, flavorings, and a few other exotic ingredients. Men and women are losing their hair at an alarming rate because they ‘need’ the sealers, conditioners, and gels, to get the right look.

I wish I could blame it all on the younger generations, like it was something they created, but it is not. With the recent economic bailout, it is obvious this condition has been simmering since I was a kid. I was probably one of the founders of wasteful living. Mega companies, business oriented men and women, and almost every charity imaginable stand in line with their mouths open, and hands out, demanding that someone place an excessive amount of money on their palms, because they need it.

The idea that any company, group, or individual may not need free money is not important today. Self sufficiency and pride has gone out the window. Begging has become the new standard for the American Way. ‘What is in it for me’, is what seems to compel begging all the way from Capitol Hill, to the street corner. It does not matter what you really need, what matters is how much you can get.

When the Christmas holidays roll around this year and the ‘giving’ trees are up, take a look at what children are asking for. Gone are the days of a board game, a pair of jeans, or perhaps some new shoes. Those items are already mainlined to the nations needy by others. Looking at the wish list of the needy, you will see requests for game counsels, cell phones, and designer purses. Nothing is out of the question when it comes to asking.

I like to think I am kind, and I think I am generous with my life. I grew up poor, and I understand the feelings that being poor can have. I understand that something happens, and we find ourselves needing. But when people are asking me for things that I choose not to buy myself because they are out of my budget range, I find myself drawing a line in the sand.

I used to hear about the poor starving children in Africa when I was a child. I now listen to parents hearing from their children how their life is a tragedy because they do not have a two hundred dollar cell phone, at least two of the latest gaming stations, a new sports car, and half the family income for spending money each week.

Is this the America I helped create when I was not paying attention? No matter, I am ashamed of what I see. It is time we have some respect for what we need and use, and live gorging ourselves on what we can get. We do not have the right to expect our government and others to cut back while we live a porkfest life.