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Do we really need to be so superficial all the time?

Francisco Miraval

Superficiality presents itself in many different ways, from the rejection of anything related to the past to an unhealthy obsession with the present, and from allowing ourselves to be deceived by television commercials –knowing they are deceiving us– to answering every question quoting lines from a movie where that same issue appeared.

Superficiality has its rightful place in the everyday life of each of us. We all need a time when we can take things lightly, even the most serious things. There is a time and place where super-superficial answers are acceptable and accepted. However, many times superficiality is glorified as the only proper standard for our lives.

We are not talking here about those persons who are famous just because they are famous, not because they actually accomplished anything. They need to be constantly superficial if they want to keep their celebrity status. We are talking, however, about us, perfectly unknown people. We are so unknown, in fact, that nobody writes about us and we will probably never begin a speech saying, “I like to thanks first the Academy…”

Let us take, for example, the case of the television commercials. There is one commercial offering a certain device to access thousands of radio and television stations for only $10.

But, is it one payment of $10, or $10 per year, or per month, or even per day?

Of course, in order to think about that issue you need to first stop being seduced for the avalanche of images of all the channels you could now see for such an insignificant price. Knowing that superficiality will deter people from asking such a basic question like “How much this really costs?” the question is never answered.

After all, if somebody has all the time needed to watch thousands of television channels, that person probably will not be thinking about complicated questions and will accept everything he or she sees on television, including a commercial for a complete home gym for less than $15. Who can really believe that is the real price of that gym?

And what about those who are sure they know what they should know about whatever issue just because they watched a movie related to that issue? In my opinion, those people are yet another example of superficiality because they allow others to create inside their minds images and ideas they should have developed themselves, for example, reading books.

There is nothing wrong, of course, with watching a movie. However, it makes no sense to assume you have solid knowledge about anything just because you watched a movie. Many years ago, I listened to a preacher in Denver telling the story of the life of Jesus to his congregation. Suddenly, the preacher interrupted the narration and announced, “I have to stop here because I have not seen the rest of the movie yet.”

How are we ever going to solve our deep problems –such as the ones we face every day– with our superficial thoughts and actions?

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