Infomercials
OK, I’ll admit it. Every now and then an infomercial on Saturday morning TV draws me in and I watch for a few minutes. There is just something seductive about their claims—build instant wealth, lose weight quickly, learn a new language in your sleep—I guess the reason I linger over them is because deep down inside I wish their claims were true. I wish their new cooking device would make me a good cook, or their “space-age-technology driver” would help me get off the tee box longer and straighter and I wish taking a little pill really would let me eat anything without gaining weight. But I know their claims are grossly exaggerated if not outright lies.
Take the build instant wealth genre of infomercial for instance. If the guy on the TV really did make his fortune doing whatever it is he is touting, why does he need to sell me his product on TV? Wouldn’t his time be better spent doing what made him rich in the first place? Of course, his reply would be that he wants to help others learn to do the same thing. But if that’s the case, why is he selling it—why not just give it away?
Now I do believe the lose weight quickly thing. Yep, I’m a believer in their claims. I know, I’ve done it, I’ve lost weight quickly. The only catch is that weight that comes off quickly comes back on just as quickly with a few of its cousins for good measure. That’s the way the body works. Our metabolism changes when we diet, so the minute we come off the diet, the pounds rush back to our mid section.
And that’s why I end up changing the channel. While I wish their claims were really true, deep down inside I know they aren’t. I know I can’t effect positive change overnight. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes perseverance.
While we tend to overestimate what we can do in a short period of time, we underestimate what we can do over a long period of time. It took years, but Susan and I got out of debt and have lived debt-free for the past 10 years. For somewhere around a year, I took off 2 pounds a week until I reached a reasonable weight and am maintaining it now. I’m still working on the Spanish thing, but like the people say, poco a poco, voy a lejos. (Little by little I will go far.)
Jim L. Wilson, Fresh Start Devotionals (Fresno, CA: Willow City Press, 2009).
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