Gluttony : " That little devil inside every one of us "

" Gluttony is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste" . That is how Wikipedia describes one of the most common deadly sins of our contemporary society. Gluttony or greed seems to be a common term in our modern consumer society. The population during these times of consumerism always seems to want to possess more. But is this persistent desire for possession an ordinary urge for wealth or rather a pathological hunger for possession?

It is striking how sometimes people do not take into account other people and how they are not ashamed of anything. A crystal-clear example of this nonchalance is hotel buffets. Everybody knows how these work, people queue for a while and can take as much food as their plates can handle. Most of the time their plates are still half full when you see those same people returning to the buffet to fetch themselves a new, fresh plate to try new things or a dessert. The food that is still on the dinner plate when the customer leaves the restaurant will be thrown away. This kind of wastage is a perfect example of greed or gluttony. People want everything while, in fact, they should make choices.

I should however mention that the consumers are not the only ones to blame. Supermarkets and small shops adapt well to the consumer's gluttony. These institutions often make very tempting offers towards potential buyers, using all kinds of marketing techniques, like for instance giving them discounts. Very often consumers are not even in need of this product but are just led by their desire to consume.

The most disquieting thing about gluttony is the fact that millions of people are starving and dying from lack of food and possession, while in the more wealthy areas such as the United States of America and Western Europe, people do not take those things seriously and therefore waste what could save lives elsewhere.

On the whole, you could conclude that gluttony is one of the most prevalent deadly sins and one of the most disquieting ones as well. Gluttony or greed is that little devil inside every one of us that convinces us to consume or take more than is actually necessary. We should all be aware of the dangers gluttony can pose to every single one of us.

How I'd love to fly away

Legend has it that these student-years are and always will be the best of your life. I am not going to deny the fact that it might just be that way, but still... Yeah you guessed it right, it's that time of year again. The strangest thing about these times of examinations is that I am honestly really fond of and moreover really interested in what I am to study but still it is so hard to remain motivated.

It's during these times that I would just like to fly away, run away, ride away, drive away, doesn't matter how, doesn't matter where to, just far, far away. In our contemporary society, people are just too afraid to be impulsive. Impulsivity has vanished, it just isn't ethically accepted if someone does something that he/she hasn't planned way in advance. Oh, I just hate this lame unadventurous mentality. When it comes to impulsivity our ancestors were way better off than we are right now. They didn't think about these kind of things, they just did it.

So, let's put on our Nike-shoes and let us" just do it ", no more worries, no more obligations.

Oxford.

Last summer, me and a friend of mine visited Oxford, a picturesque city in the South-East of England. It is not that hard to get there for us. We took "the Eurostar" in Brussels, then it took us 1 hour and 51 minutes to get to London, after which we took the train to Oxford which lasted for about 50 minutes. We spent the first day in London during which we did some quick sightseeing and at about 18.30 local time we left for Oxford. When we finally arrived we only had to walk 5 minutes untill we reached our youth hostel, called Backpackers.


The first day we got up really early and explored the city centre. We were immediately stunned by the beauty of the city centre. It has got this old and cosy image mixed with a pinch of new commercial refreshment. In the afternoon we kind of followed a map of the city that we received when we arrived at our hostel. It led us to the most amazing places.

Oxford is mainly known for its college- and universitylife and that is well noticeable. Christ church university is one of the most dominating buildings of the city and is accompanied by an amazing meadow. You can honestly wander around there for hours just looking around and enjoying the view. A path has been built around Christ church university on which you can walk at least 3 miles before you're back where you started.




Also worth a visit is the blackwells bookshop in Broadstreet, not so far from the University buildings. A picturesque little shop in the middle of town that is known all over the world. Absolutely worth a visit!





Albeit the fact that Oxford is mainly known for its "urbanism" it has some amazing nature domains as well. We visited the botanic gardens and South park ( which is kind of a pun, I know ). The botanic gardens are a part of the Oxford University and contain an enormous diversity of plants. It was almost as if we were walking through every climat all over the world and meeting all different kinds of flora. Amazing!

South park on the other hand is situated on Headington hill in Headington, a beautiful, more down to earth part of Oxford. South Park honestly is the biggest park I ever saw. When we entered it there was no one else in the entire park. Just imagine a huge park, grass greener than Old Trafford and no one there. It was just so peacefully quiet and perfect to restore your inner peace ( if that was necessary in the first place of course ).

I must admit that it wasn't all sightseeing that we did. As the night fell we put on our naughty shoes and entered the Oxford nightlife. And I must give it to you, when it comes to partying, Oxford lives up to its reputation of being one of the best Student-cities all over the world ! We were absolutely flabbergasted by the number of fancy and chic night clubs ( The bridge, park end, ocean and collins, ... ). And I know what you're all thinking: " but England is so expensive". Yeah it absolutely is expensive but that was the good part, because there are so many students they treat people with cheap drinks and give discounts on entrance fees. Believe me when I tell you, Oxford nightlife is by far the best I ever experienced.

On the whole I could conclude that visiting Oxford was a great experience. It was and always will be one of the best holidays of my life. Moreover some people we met over there bought a house in the city centre and invited us to come and visit them this february which we will do of course.

Can't wait to see you there !

Everything's so banal

I think, but I'm not certain. I want to but I just can't find a way. I often think about those things I don't know. Moreover I could even put it like this and say that there are very few absolute certainties in our lives. It honestly tortures me to know that we in fact know nothing at all. It's like Belgian poet Frederik Van Eeden once said: " Nothing is absolutely certain and even that is doubtful ". When you think about it, we just live our lives without asking questions, without even wondering if there might be an other option. Do we even get a choice?

First blog

Dear fellow bloggers,

I will be using this blogspot to express my opinions on everything I experience. For me, writing about our contemporary society and about very ordinary things in special is something I do very often. I hereby hope that you will give me some feedback about what you think of my ideas, points of view, etc.

kind regards,

Koen