What do the following things have in common?

> Flipping a light switch

> Closing a cabinet door

> Stepping on the car brake

> Clicking a mouse

> Turning on/off a faucet

Give up? For most of us, they are all incredibly easy tasks to perform, requiring very little personal energy, yet we often regard them as too much work.

Think about it. It’s a lot easier to flip on a light switch than to build a fire, or even light a candle! Equally easy to flip a switch off, but how often do we leave a room without doing it?

If you’re like me, you often fail to close the cabinet doors in your kitchen? Why? How much personal energy does it really take to shut them? (And if I don’t mind showing the mess inside the cabinets, why have doors on them at all?)

I don’t know how much the average car weighs these days, but let’s say 1,000 pounds. Can you believe you can stop the forward motion of that much weight just by pressing your foot on a pedal? So why are so many pedestrians left in the dust at crosswalks?

What about the effort required to click a computer mouse? It’s easier than turning a page (which doesn’t take much effort either). Marketing researchers can tell you exactly how many clicks the average person will perform before deserting one website for another. It isn’t very many.

Next time you turn on a faucet, ask yourself when is the last time you had to draw your water from a well? Now that takes personal energy! (No, I’ve never had to do it either.)

So what’s my point? Well, it’s really nothing very profound. I just find it interesting that we have come to regard many simple tasks to be annoyances unworthy of expending our time and energy.

It’s so easy to become complacent and take modern-day conveniences for granted. Especially when we are still healthy and able-bodied.

Sometimes it’s good to step back and take a little reality check. At least it is for me.

Any thoughts on the subject?