Generation Y? More like Generation N: Physically living up to the standards of society's most narcissistic generation

Today’s generation of adolescents and young adults have set the new standard for self-inflated egos everywhere. No other generation has come close to the amount of effort it takes to have the perfect body. Today’s middle to upper-class society is one driven by a notion that to look perfect is to be perfect and that a lack of effort on one’s physical appearance is as much of a faux pas as wearing sandals with socks (I’m sorry to all you sandal-sock practitioners out there but you just shouldn’t do that). At one point or another, all of us in this demographic have been caught up in the hype of what it means to be considered above average looking and this hype has unfortunately created a notion where becoming above average is as simple as having a certain body type.

I clearly remember the phase I went through when I decided to keep up with the images of perfection that are constantly reiterated through the varied mediums we encounter throughout the day. It was right after the first summer where I landed a full time unionized job and therefore I had a lot of cash with nothing to spend it on. As I’m sure many of you can testify about your first well-paying job, I spent the money on my car, food and partying. By the end of the summer I was the heaviest I had ever been in my life and decided I needed a big change. Now, this isn’t to say people bugged me, or anyone pressured me to change; I was actually performing well in sport because of my ability to physically handle the competition on the lacrosse floor and the opposite sex still gave me the same attention as before. However, as I fell victim to our generation’s expectations of perfection, my decision was purely based on wanting to physically become as close to that expectation as possible.

Having an athletic background only hastened the journey to my goal, as in the end, I credit the change I made to the dedication to a program; probably the most difficult aspect of any physical/fitness goal. After months of training five, sometimes six days a week, making myself terrified of consuming carbs, and judging my progress in the mirror, not on performance or health, I had never looked fitter in my life. However (and this is a big however), reality set in to the cost of what it takes to have the body that every fitness salesman says could be yours with little effort.

After shedding all the weight and becoming the apparent fitness spokesman I looked like, I arrived at next year’s lacrosse try-outs appearing ready to run circles around my fellow competitors. I learned quickly that this would not be the case. As I had become so concerned with my looks as apposed to my performance, I had literally trained myself to perform worse and the first few days of try-outs were pure agony; a terrible diet and incorrect training regime had me on the brink of unconsciousness at times and I was constantly sick to my stomach. Let this story be a lesson to all that one can essentially become the epitome of physical perfection relatively easily, however, one best be prepared for that commitment to basically effect every aspect of their life.

Since that point I have (physically and professionally) learned a lot about my body and have come to understand that what is “perfect” in the eyes of society is usually not the case for the individual. I understand now that physically resembling the standard of the faultless bodies we as a generation have come to think of as perfect, has more to do with genetics than how much you hit the gym. Case in point, plastic surgery, steroids, fitness supplements, tanning salons, etc., all work to try to change what most people were simply not born to look like and usually results in those unnatural looks being physically obvious. I have personally concluded that being physically and mentally healthy outweighs having the picture perfect look ten-fold.

By now, some of you are probably saying, “this is old news, why did you just waste my time writing this garbage?” Well, it is important for our generation to start hearing that perfection is found within ourselves not what we are told and that perfection ALWAYS looks different. In the end this is the message I wanted to express: although all of us are at the mercy of our peers, no one can fault someone who is physically and mentally healthy, therefore this should be everyone’s goal when trying to become the person they have always wanted to be. Furthermore, as physical and mental health go hand in hand, they should compliment each other, not be adversaries. Over-stressing about physical demeanor only leads to an excess of mental anxiety and making poor decisions; if you don’t believe that, ask Heidi Montag or the cast of the Jersey Shore.

Demanding perfection in oneself is not a negative outlook on life but one must know that individual perfection is not necessarily designated by the masses. We live in a generation whose physical expectations have come to exceed the natural limitations of the average person. That being said, if you are one of the people striving to become everyone’s dream of physical perfection, well, I wish you good luck sir or madam, because you are going to need it. However, if your goal is to be physically healthy and keep a good, confident head on your shoulders, you should already be commended.


Content with his lack of abs,

Matias M. Barchman

Super Bowl Sunday aka “World America Day Featuring Football”

The Super Bowl is as much of a holiday as any other; you just don’t get paid double for working it (those of you in the service industry can appreciate that). The Super Bowl is the celebration of everything wonderful about being American. At its epicenter, is a sport unquestionably dominated by the country of its origin that involves the arguably most athletic people in the world. A sport that combines the in-depth strategy of a chess match with impacts that rival car accidents; a truly American sport. Super Bowl Sunday is America’s way to celebrate football but in reality, the football played has taken a back seat to America’s –and therefore the world’s- need to celebrate America. To state the obvious, I got this notion this Super Bowl Sunday and as a Canadian who’s not really that keen on American football, I believe I provide a decently omniscient view of the holiday. Saying that, I’m not implying that I have not participated in its celebration for years.

To begin, from a media standpoint, Super Bowl Sunday is the moneymaker. As it is hyped up almost above and beyond people’s excitement by America’s superlative media system, viewership is going to directly cause the exchange of millions if not billions of dollars and consequently becomes the American media’s time to shine. The way the Super Bowl is experienced through an American television feed can arguably rival being at the event itself. Although attending would be an incredible experience, the media presentation of the Super Bowl offers everything the game delivers with the angles and perspectives that simply can’t be seen or heard without a television. Presenters make sure they have done everything in their power to keep their viewers entertained, even going the extra mile by employing some of the best performers in the world to keep onlookers amused while they wait for the players to rest; hell, they even make the commercials funny. So right off the bat, we have a holiday that celebrates American Capitalism and its unparalleled media… sounds like we’re on the right track. The entire celebration is not relegated to a media presentation however; how one is generally supposed to enjoy that presentation is just as important.

Traditionally, the celebration of Super Bowl Sunday involves being a sports-nut for a day and connoisseur of the finest American cuisine. No matter how small or large the celebration, these two dynamics are ever apparent throughout the day. The Super Bowl is another celebration of a successful American athletic system that has a presence in almost every sport imaginable and a fan-base to match.

This Super Bowl Sunday, throughout the venues I attended, supporters were dawning their finest athletic attire, mostly made up of the NFL jerseys of the two teams vying for championship. Mostly. As the Super Bowl has become more of a celebration of American sport in general, NFL jerseys ranging from a variety of teams could be seen and I even encountered jerseys from sports not even being highlighted this day (I can’t begin to explain how much of a faux pas it is to wear a jersey unrelated to the sport event one is celebrating, but it had to be mentioned). The Super Bowl celebration can bring out the sports fan in even the least of sport-savvy people because it is a general social consensus that this particular Sunday is dedicated to enjoying the American ideology of sport. With the majority of people gathering to view the Super Bowl Sunday television extravaganza in their best athletic attire and mindset, we can go on to discuss a characteristic of the celebration that highlights the American culture at its best; the food.

The food consumed on Super Bowl Sunday is just as important as dinner on Thanksgiving or Christmas. Super Bowl Sunday is the second largest food-consumption day of the year (following Thanksgiving). Furthermore, it is undoubtedly American in nature. Just as eating turkey is synonymous with celebrating the aforementioned holidays, the general food choices during Super Bowl Sunday are similarly constant. A quick internet search reveals some of the daunting food consumption facts for the United States:

Pounds of potato chips consumed on Super Bowl Sunday = 11 million
Pounds of tortilla chips = 8.2 million
Pounds of popcorn = 3.8 million
Percentage increase in sales of frozen shrimp = 29 percent
Amount of money spent on soft drinks at grocery stores during the entire Super Bowl week = $237.2 million
Calories consumed by the average Super Bowl watcher = 1,200
Increase in sales of flavored snack crackers = 68 percent
Number of pizzas Pizza Hut expects to prepare on Super Bowl Sunday= 2 million
Pounds of snack food Americans gobble down on Super Bowl Sunday = 30.4 million (2x the average daily amount)

(Source: http://www.nubella.com/content/view/1530/)

One must be sure to note that these statistics are based on American figures alone and do not include additional audiences around the world.

If the overwhelming consumption of unhealthy food is not profoundly an American celebration concept in itself, the specific foods that are so massively consumed make it so. As snack and fast foods are the most prominent in America, no celebration of the American culture could be complete without them. Super Bowl Sunday becomes a day where viewers around the world can indulge in American food culture without having their conscious’s feel guilty about it. Further attention could also be drawn to beer/alcohol consumption during Super Bowl Sunday -additional sales of beer goes into the tens of millions- however, binge drinking to celebrate something is essentially a global concept.

Super Bowl Sunday, a spectacle that generates an unprecedented amount of capital, is presented by the greatest media conglomerate in the world, and globally celebrates American sport and culture. As per usual, I take a full political stance on the matter. This entry is not looking to come down on American culture or how it celebrates itself as a nation; but simply a way to call attention to how Super Bowl Sunday has become more than just a day highlighting the championship of one of the toughest sports in the world. “World America Day Featuring Football” is well on its way to becoming an official holiday. Although the majority of the working world has Sunday to themselves, all you Super Bowl viewers out there can agree that having “Super Monday” off would work wonders for your American-style hangover. Football! America! F*** ya.

Dreaming of one day celebrating a “World Canada Day Featuring Hockey”,

Matias M. Barchman