W hat do Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Shintoism, and just about any other “ism” that’s survived more than a few Kool-Aid chugging parties have in common?
No, it’s not that they feature old guys dressed up in togas.
No, it’s not that they all rip off each other’s myths and verses.
No, it’s not that they spent thousands of years slaughtering each other in the name of some ethereal deity.
It is this: They each promote delayed gratification as one of the highest human virtues.
Yes, at some point, each culture discovers, in their own way, that eating, drinking, conquering, and fucking anything and everything at a moment’s notice can kinda backfire.
They also discover at some point that saving their resources and not spontaneously killing each other in a vainglorious blood orgy — you know, that whole “resist temptation” thing — can pay off nicely in the long run.
You could therefore say that delayed gratification is the foundation of civilization. It’s the call to sacrifice a little satisfaction today to greatly increase the quality of life tomorrow.
So, in order to help you all increase your quality of life tomorrow (and do your part for civilization), I’ve taken the liberty…
