Tanned

I think there is a universal human feature which can be illustrated via the metaphor of tanning.

People don't care about long term consequences. Really. They are willing to spoil the long term for short-term pleasure. Why else would people tan?

Now, speaking as someone who goes from pale to cancer with no intermediary step, who spends most of his life lurking in dark corners of lightless rooms (no, I am neither a vampire nor a goth), whose sleep schedule means that he rarely sees anything but the setting sun, you might be tempted to write me off as a crank. Obviously I must hate the sun and feel a deep resentment toward people who are able to bask in its rays for hours on end.

Sadly, you would be mistaken. I just find the whole thing funny. People who tan are putting themselves at far greater risk of skin cancer, it's true, but that's not really the metaphor in question. The amusing thing is than tanning ages you. And for the women in the audience anyway, this would be a bad thing.

So people are willing to shorten their period of peak attractiveness in order to achieve a slightly higher peak (this is, of course, forgetting that some people don't find tans attractive). I understand that there are some people who don't care about the attractiveness factor, who just love the sun, but I would be willing to bet that those people are in the minority. The vast minority, even.

We're shallow and shortsighted. And for proof of that, you need look no further than the beach. Forget trying to convince people to protect the environment; we can't even convince them to stop tanning.