This? Or That?

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."

 - Yogi Berra, American baseball player, manager

Stuart Jeffries, Guardian Unlimited columnist, thinks that having too many choices has the opposite effect of what most of us believe it should. In an article written earlier this year, he surmises that "Hell Is 57 Varieties," and proceeds to tell us why having so many things to choose from makes our lives more complicated and stressful.

Citing a new book by American social scientist Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice, Jeffries suggests that reducing our options helps limit our anxiety and makes us happier. He gives us some hints from Schwartz's book about how this might be accomplished, but then offers a word of caution. He points out that having a lot of things to choose from may allow us to discover something we don't yet know we need, so if we limit our choices we may miss something that could be really important to us.

Sounds like we're damned if we do and damned if we don't.

I agree with Mr. Jeffries that we now have tons of choices, especially here in the U.S.A. But I haven't found that having 21 varieties of raisin bran, 28 brands of vodka, a gazillion types of golf balls or 348 channels on my tv to be much of a problem. I take about 2 minutes to make my selection, usually based on price or taste, then go on my merry way. Having lots of "stuff" to choose from has rarely been a problem for me.

Life choices, on the other hand, have sometimes gotten sticky. You know--Do I want to marry this person? Should I have children? Do I really need to get a physical? Is this really where I want to spend the rest of my life? Should I let Mom move in with us? Is lending money to my friend a wise thing to do? Am I tipsy enough that I should find someone else to drive? Is it okay to lie just this once? Choosing the cereal I want to eat is a snap when you consider these dilemmas.

You may want to read the entire article and see what you think. Jeffries makes some good points, as does Schwartz, but I don't agree with them that having so many things to choose from these days creates that much stress. I kinda like it, because I can remember when there was only one type of milk, two or three brands of cereal and one flavor of ice cream at the grocery where Mom used to shop. The variety we have now is wonderful. So what kind of beer do I want this week? Eeny, meeny, miney, moe...it works for me.