Running away from the Negatives

We as people are often only drawn to the small negative things rather than all the positives around us. It seems natural, after a long practice, to just look at all the things that went bad instead of noticing how much improvement has been made. This impulse to dwell on the negative is very much similar to the impulse Didion shows in Vegas marriages.

In Vegas, people seem to just get married when they have nothing better to do. There is no thought put into it, especially the long term effects of such a sudden acceleration in a relationship. The consumer craze that is created by Vegas marriages generates the high divorce rate in Nevada compared to around the national rate. People's obsession over material items has slowly transferred to a larger range. With everyone getting married, it's almost like another item that can be bought so that you can be like everyone around you. And the way Vegas commercializes these weddings definitely adds to that. Each chapel offers "better, faster" services.

Similarly the impulse to fret over the negative is stimulated by people's desire for material goods. After buying something, everyone is super excited to use it. Yea you share good memories with it, name the thing, but as soon it breaks, it's like it never existed. You think why did I even buy this piece of crap and just move on forgetting about all the positives. This impulsive nature of people makes everything seem so dark, because as soon as you finish worrying about one thing, the next task is placed in your hands with all sorts of new negatives to cry about.

Society provides so many material and commercialized goods that people have started to lose the ability to understand the true value of everything around them. We as people need to stop fretting and start enjoying life :).