Words to Live By*
It's just a little phrase, innocuous enough for all that it has become a cliche, but it's been bothering me now for days. I see it everywhere: in magazines, on billboards, on the Internet. People say it to each other more or less without thinking, typically as a way of comforting each other. Still, I don't know why it bothers me so much. It is, after all, a promise of something pleasant. It's what we say to each other when we've been working hard. It's what I would say to myself this evening, taking a break from fencing practice after spending the weekend driving to and from Ohio for the competition, if only I weren't so annoyed by it. My father-in-law even wrote (actually co-wrote) a book with the phrase in the title. What is this insidious phrase, you may ask? " Treat yourself to x ." There it is. How many times have you heard or read this phrase in the last few days? "Treat yourself to a massage." "Treat yourself to n...