Seems like its all about the size

By Rennie Phillips

It's been several weeks ago our youngest son and I went out for dinner together. It was probably about noon, but there weren't many at the restaurant. I had eaten a late breakfast, so I was looking for a light dinner. Our son was hungry, so he ordered a hamburger that was huge. It had about a 1/2-pound hamburger, a fried slice of bologna, onions and such, but also a fried egg. Along with this came fries. Massive to say the least. I'll bet that sucker was 4 inches thick. I would have had to packed half of it for later if I'd gotten this burger and sides.

But this is kind of where some food seems to be going. Sandwiches are just getting bigger and bigger, and food packages as well. The TV has been advertising two sandwiches, fries and a large drink for, like, $5. Some have a sandwich, fries, drink and a sundae for $5. Not too many years ago, a 32-ounce drink was the thing, but now there are 42- or 44-ounce drinks. Every once in awhile I'll get a 44-ounce diet cherry limeade when it's on special. That is a lot of drinking. At many of the fast-food joints one can make their food order a large or supersize it. Bigger fries and bigger drink.

Cars seem to be getting smaller and smaller, and more economical. However, pickups seem to be getting bigger and bigger. I saw a pickup advertised the other day that was over $100,000. Almost terrifying when one thinks of the payments and insurance and such. Pickups are just huge compared to a few years back. I have a 1/2-ton regular-cab pickup, and it's small when compared to some of these huge four-door, long-bed pickups. Several years ago I was visiting with a friend, and he said 11 months out of the year a good many of the pickups were "air haulers." Air was the only thing they ever hauled around in their pickups. The 12th month they hauled around their four-wheeler for deer season.

On the other hand, some of the cars are just tiny. I've seen some cars that would hold two passengers at most. I don't think a guy my size would even fit in those cars.

Back before my time, homes were small. My grandparents raised three girls and two boys in a two-bedroom sod house. Mom and Dad raised two boys and two girls in a two-bedroom frame house. When I was little, it was almost unheard of for a house to have three bedrooms. Many had one. Today, the trend is bigger and bigger. Three bedrooms and four bedrooms are pretty common. Most have at least two bathrooms. Most have at least a one-car garage, with many having two or more. I've seen some homes with a four-car garage. Some of the homes back when I was little maybe had 800 to 1,000 square feet. Today, I'll bet the average house is closer to 2,000 than 1,000. It's almost as if the bigger the better.

On the other hand, some things have gotten smaller and smaller. I haven't flown much, but the times that I have, those seats are small. I'm not small by any means, so I fill out those seats. I don't know how some bigger people fit in them.

Some of the booths at restaurants are built for 150-pound people, and not for guys and gals with any kind of belly. If they have the table hooked down, I don't fit. One that we go to locally has tables that slide. I like that. Every once in a while we'll go to Sikeston and catch a throwed roll. By the time the real food gets to your table you are full of rolls and sorghum and fried okra. I still don't know why they don't just hand out take-home boxes right from the start. Normally my wife and I both need take-home boxes.

I guess I can't remember it being this way back when we were kids. A hamburger was probably 1/8 to 1/4 pound, with maybe cheese and pickles and onion and lettuce. Along with it came an order of fries or even some potato chips. Most of the time we got a soda in a glass bottle, which was maybe 10 or 12 ounces. Back then one always got a water in a real glass. When we went to A&W we always got a mug of root beer, and it sure wasn't a 44-ounce size.

I don't know where the idea that bigger is better came from, but it's not necessarily true. With tongue in cheek, I'd by far rather have a mess of smaller green beans then a half-gallon of big ones. Down through the years I've tried to chew some fairly big steaks and failed. I've eaten a lot of smaller steaks where a knife wasn't even needed. I've eaten a bunch of watermelons, and the size doesn't matter a lick till one tastes what's on the inside. Once you taste the inside, then you just might wish it was bigger.

I kind of wonder if we shouldn't focus more on quality on most everything, so that it becomes more important then quantity or size. When I sit down to eat, I want quality. Just because a truck is huge doesn't mean it's better. All that it means is it's huge. But even as I write this, something inside me says pick the bigger tomato or the bigger head of lettuce or the bigger four-wheeler or the extended-cab, full-size pickup or the biggest watermelon. And when we go to a restaurant with a food bar there is the urge to eat more than we should -- to the point of being miserable.

It probably comes down to retraining our minds. We might also need to bring a focus back on sitting around a dining-room table and actually taking time to eat and enjoy the food and the company. Maybe we need to be more mindful of what we buy, rather than buy on appearance.

Just my two cents worth. Have a good one.