Musings Help yourself
~ by Mark Blackwell
I
recently came across a rather startling factoid, namely, that there are about 15,000 selfhelp books published every year. And that doesn’ t even cover the DVDs, YouTube videos, podcasts, and TED Talks. That, to me, indicates that there is a whole lot of dissatisfaction out there.
Self-improvement, it appears, has been front and center for the human condition since the beginning of things. The Bible tells us about how Eve took the advice of a serpent on bettering her condition, and folks have been taking bad advice from snakes ever since. And speaking of religion, it pretty much had a lock on inspiring discontent for several millennia, that is, until modern advertising came along.
It’ s one thing to be declared a congenital sinner in need of salvation by the church, but
according to the advertising folks you’ re not just a sinner, you are an unfashionable, overweight sinner with dandruff, halitosis, a smelly house and constipation. Your cake is not moist or fluffy enough, and your fried chicken is too greasy. Now our devices tell us about all kinds of diseases we may be suffering from without even knowing it.
It’ s getting so bad that a person doesn’ t have time to do much more than ask their doctor if this, that, or some
30 Our Brown County • Jan./ Feb. 2025