Exactly like that, only different

Our society is governed by a means of associations, of comparisons. When you think about it, nearly every aspect of our life owes some significance to this thought. When friends compare different models of computers, they're exactly the same, only a little different. During a fight, a husband says to his wife she is exactly like her mother, only little different. We are always changing as people and as a society, and in order for us to understand something, we use comparisons. It's an interesting topic to think about in its own right, but listening to how other people compare themselves is equally entertaining.

For example, I was cruisin' along in the Camry today - it's an '85, if you're wondering - flirting with lines of girls on the hot beach strand. Actually, it's raining here. And there's no beach, no strand. We have Wal-Mart, and people fucking love that place. But anyhoo, my ghetto-rigged tuner was only picking up the soft-rock station, again. I heard Gwen Stefani's poppy classic "Rich Girl" rattle through the 1 1/2 working speakers. It was the first time I had heard the song in it's entirety, and I got a little kinky - I performed a role reversal with Gwen. It was hot.

I didn't really focus on the words, I focused on Gwen, the artist. I'll be the first to admit I know jack crud about Stefani, other than she used to sing for No Doubt. But from what she says in the HP commercial, we're practically the same person, only different. I couldn't help but think we follow the same passion: harnessing and defining creative energy. But she's rich, and has a hot body, and is so far successful. We're pretty much the same person, only different.

Yesterday at Barnes and Noble - my home away from home - two teenage girls were comparing their cell phones. They were different brands, different services, but functioned very similarly. One said, "It's exactly like yours, [slight pause] only different."

At the bar, I overheard a couple guys talking about women; more specifically, their female parts. The conclusion: They're all the same, just a little bit different.

I'm not sure this post has any real significance. But with all the talks of holiday gifts lately, and the excitement people show for their new-found material goods, I find it funny, curiously so, how that excitement will soon fade in the wake of a newer, updated and perceptibly better product, and how when that time of newness and recycled innovation comes around, that product will be compared to the ones they unwrapped Christmas morning. We have found ourselves in the fog of a disposable economy where differences - be they good or bad - are presented as new, and therefor, better. And unfortunately this method of comparison applies not only to material goods (though, there it seems most evident) but to people of status as well. I'm exactly like a lot of people, only different. And I think that's where many of us get caught up. At least I sometimes do...