Monday, November 26, 2012

The Sandwich Dilemma

It will take two sandwiches to sate you as you are very hungry. You have two sandwiches: one especially tasty and the other so-so. Which do you eat first?

As hunger is the best seasoning ( I remember that Josh was so hungry that a dusty, limp race cake from a stranger's backpack was looking mighty good), perhaps the boring sandwich would taste better than it really is so eat that first.

Or if it's a choice between a vegetable and a sandwich, perhaps the  more nutritious yet not as tasty thing should be consumed first. Isn't this why desserts are served last?

Or if it is good wine versus mediocre wine, drink the good first. Maybe you will be too drunk to notice how mediocre the second wine is.

I read of this in an economist column recently in the WSJ. He extended the analogy to whether one should have children. Let's say you have a certain budget for food. You could have so-so food most of the time and then splurge or you could eat better than average food most of the time with no special meals. Which type of person would be most suited to raising children?

The first, in his opinion. Raising children can be boring, annoying, tiring and not always enjoyable. But then you have special moments that you can only experience raising children. These may be few and far between but it makes the whole experience worthwhile. If you expect a constant rate of happiness, then maybe raising kids isn't for you.

1 comment:

Teri Bernstein said...

Uh oh. Too late for some of us...

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