Philosophizing

I've been out of the Philosophy world for awhile now so I decided I needed to do a little philosophical muscle stretching. Included here are a few of my philosophies on ordinary things:

Stop signs in America - I was at a Stop sign today and for about 30 seconds no one, at any of the fou

r roads into the intersection, would go. It was clearly NOT my turn, so I wasn't going to go, but no one else seemed to either. It seemed completely un-American. We are not a country that encourages pauses, especially when there seems to be some advantage to be gained by going first! We're always pushing to get ahead, working harder than the next person, getting further faster. I mean think about the phrase "keeping up with the Jones'"! We're all about getting ahead...and yet these four cars sat and waited and wouldn't take their opportunity. It was so strange, and even stranger that I thought it was so strange. I wonder if a European, or even a Canadian, would even have noticed.

Lawyers - I don't really think you need lawyers to read through every legal document you sign to check for catches or terms that were sneaked in...what you really need them to do is catch what's NOT written in the documents. Lawyers have the ability to think of every possible bad outcome that is not specifically addressed, with a great attention to crazy details that you might think no one in their right mind would even notice, even ones you think might just be covered by common sense. Also, it is nice to have people around whose job it is to read through those boring documents all day so you don't have to! In a nutshell - lawyers are serious pessimists who make long, boring documents longer and more boring, but thankfully they keep us from having to deal with the longness and and the boringness!

Fast food - I know it's unhealthy and lazy and all sorts of other bad things, but honestly, I don't think it tastes as bad as everyone says. Would I rather eat at McDonalds than a nice steak house? Most of the time, no. BUT, fast food does fill a niche. Sometimes a Taco Bell burrito hits the spot, doesn't mean it's in the same category as a Cafe Rio burrito, or a homemade burrito, but you don't go to Taco Bell expecting a burrito like Cafe Rio or one from home. Fast food has it's place, and I say appreciate it for what it is! That said....there is some food that is just not meant to be fast - macaroni and cheese for example. That is a food that cannot be translated into fast food and still maintain and acceptable level of palatability.