The Things We've Lost

Sometimes time is a very scary thing. As time passes, you can lose things you once thought were normal—things you assumed would always be there. You don't even notice the change at first. It happens slowly, and then one day you realize: what used to be normal isn't normal anymore.

Take McDonald's as an example. There used to be an old joke: "Don't mess with a guy who eats a Happy Meal—because he has nothing to lose." The meaning behind that joke was that McDonald's was cheap. If someone was living off a Happy Meal, it implied they were broke and had nothing—no property, no savings, nothing to protect.

But nowadays, even a Happy Meal can feel like a luxury. Going to McDonald's 10 years ago was something people associated with struggling, or at least not doing well. Now it's expensive. Think about it: if you buy burgers and meals for a family of four, it can easily cost $50 or $60. A single meal can be around $10. Add in two kids, drinks, and maybe ice cream, and it goes over $50 fast.

And the crazy part is: just a few years ago, $50 or $60 could get a family of four a pretty decent meal at a sit-down restaurant. But now, because inflation has gone up so much while salaries haven't kept up, things that used to be affordable are no longer affordable. McDonald's becoming a "luxury" is already a sign of how much has changed.

The same thing is happening with eating out in general. Places like Applebee's or Cheesecake Factory used to be treated as "cheap." But today, that attitude doesn't even make sense anymore, because Cheesecake Factory is expensive too. Eating out has become a middle-class luxury, not something normal.

Travel is another example. A once-a-year domestic trip—like a road trip somewhere in the United States—used to be normal for working-class Americans. Now even that is harder. It feels more like a middle-class thing, or straight-up luxury.

And then there's Disney. People used to talk about Disney like it was something normal for families—maybe not cheap, but achievable. Now it's basically upper-class pricing. Taking a family of four to Disney for a few days, with hotels, food, tickets, and everything else, can easily cost around $10,000. For a lot of families, that's completely unrealistic.

So many things have changed so quickly. And that's why time is scary: as time goes on, people start to accept the new normal—even when it shouldn't be normalized. Because it's not a small change. It's a huge change.

And what did we gain from all of this? In many ways, it feels like the only thing we gained is the smartphone. Sure, the smartphone is better now. But other than that, a lot of people aren't gaining anything.

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