Lessons in Luxury

Check it: Mankind - you and me, or more specifically, our ancestors - has only been around for about 200,000 years. For most of that time - 199,800 years to be approximate - we lived hand to mouth, survival a day to day occupation. Our species has been defined, like every other species on Earth that is or has ever been, by survival.

But we, the Lucky Ones, live in an age of plenty, of miracle. You can eat all you want and suffer few consequences in so doing. And thus, Pancake Man above. At no other time in human history could he exist in this form, unless he was elite. Indeed, fatness was once the mark of the richest of our monkey mammal line - who else could get fat but someone wealthy? Royalty. Then. Now, anyone can - head down to Mickey D's for a crash course, if you're so inclined.

On the flip side, the same circumstance - the Age of Plenty - allows for progress. Vegetarianism, for example - in no other time in human history would it make any sense. But now, when there's so many options? Why not? If it can be done, now's the time to do it. While we can.

But don't get too used to it. Luxury is always a temporary condition, as the reality of our existence is harsh. So, in lieu, here:

Only in, and from, luxury.