The short answer:

Maybe I shouldn’t tell you.

The long answer:

My sister remarked to me recently that ever since they started selling orange juice that is fortified with calcium and vitamin D, she feels compelled to buy it over the normal stuff. This is not, of course, because she believes that her diet is low in calcium or vitamin D. Rather, how can she buy normal orange juice anymore, knowing that it isn’t fortified with anything? Of course, she claims that she can taste the difference—apparently the fortified stuff tastes more like bones and sunlight—but I’m skeptical.

I almost think that it’s a scam, that really all the juice is the same, just labeled differently. But the prices are also the same, so I’m not really sure what the point of the scam could be. Then again, maybe there’s more to it that I haven’t considered. But if that’s the case, would I want to know? Maybe I’d be perfectly happy believing there was no scam, just as I used to be perfectly happy drinking unfortified juice.

People hate to know that they are missing out on something, even if it is something in which they would ordinarily not be interested. Unfortunately, this simple principle is the basis of gossip, fads, and QVC, hence the downfall of civilization. One part of me would like to believe that there’s someone out there who isn’t susceptible to this. The other part of me wants to find out what he has that I don’t that makes him insusceptible.

I’ve always felt that I’ve missed out on a lot. I didn’t have as cool toys as everyone else when I was a kid. I didn’t have a real romantic encounter until, well, ever. I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was twenty. I didn’t go to my senior prom. I didn’t have a college experience filled with debauchery. I’ve never written my name in the snow.

Of course, I’ve had a lot of other experiences that other people have missed, but is that supposed to make me feel better? You might argue that life only has time for so many experiences, so you’re bound to miss out on a lot. But then I think back to all those times when I wasn’t doing anything and I think, I could have been doing anything.

To some degree, such thinking is inevitable. We always want to know what we don’t have, and we always want what we know we don’t have. Maybe if I had done everything that I had ever wanted, I’d be writing instead about how I didn’t spend enough time doing nothing. Then again, I’d also be on a private jet from Monte Carlo to Liechtenstein right about now, so somehow that argument isn’t that satisfying.

The key, perhaps, is just to cherish what you do have. This doesn’t mean that you should forget about everything that the world has to offer, only that you should realize the difference between things that you really want and things that you want just because they’re there. It is a matter of knowing where you are in life and where you want to go without being distracted by such things as fortified orange juice. After all, just because you are missing doesn’t mean you have to be lost too.

Cheers,
-qm