“Everything in Moderation”
It is the motto of the underachiever, the credo of the consistent consumer, the epitome of mediocrity, AND it is violent, unhealthy, and downright dangerous.
One method I use to ensure I am not being too gullible when it comes to new information or ideas, is to follow the line of logic being proposed to its extremes. Let’s apply this method to the generally revered maxim, “Everything in moderation.”
Usually, we hear this adage tossed about when someone is about to have a drink, or light just one cigarette, or have just one piece of pie, or… But we will take it to the extreme and suss out the truth. How about drinking rat poison? Would moderation be alright? How about child abuse? Would just a little bit be OK? And rape? Theft? Cheating?
We don’t have to go far down the line of extremes to realize that we don’t want ANY negatives heaped onto our lives, even in the smallest doses. Well, the same is true for our bodies, our minds, and our spirits. They don’t benefit a lick from being subjected to mild, light, or moderate amounts of abuse. Our children don’t benefit from moderate abuse of any sort, neither do our spouses, friends, and coworkers.
We do thrive upon moderate exposure and engagement with positive, beneficial aspects of life; i.e. sunlight, proper food, water, sleep and rest, social engagement, meditative time, pursuit of goals, etc. Too much of these healthy elements and even they can inflict harm; i.e. sunburn, obesity, introversion, extroversion, etc.
The corrected axiom now reads thus: All good things in moderation.
