Have You Noticed This Shrinking Trend?

Drawing copyright 2013 Ron Levellie

While eating baby-back ribs recently, I noticed how dinner napkins are shrinking. It’s bad enough that manufacturers inject air into the napkins to make them appear plump. Now they’re decreasing their size. One used to cover my whole lap; these days it barely fits on the top third of a thigh.

Candy bars have also been shrinking with the times. Years ago, it took me five bites to eat my Gooey-Wooey bar. Today I have to get out Grandma’s magnifying glass to gaze at its loveliness before I down it in two nibbles.

And have you been as shocked as I have how ice-cream containers dwindled overnight, from half a gallon to one and a half quarts? We used to serve ice cream with our birthday cakes. Nowadays we simply wave the carton over each plate as a sweet remembrance of more generous times.

Coffee-can shrinkage is another travesty. Remember when you bought coffee by the pound? These days it comes in 12 or 13 oz. packages, for the same price as before. Soon they’ll be selling it by the cup and charging $3.50 a slurp. Oh, they’re already doing that.

TV shows take up only forty-five minutes instead of fifty-two. Today’s cars are the size of my grandson’s scooter. Even Band-Aids barely cover a boo-boo anymore.

I’m so relieved that Jesus’ love never shrinks or diminishes in strength. Jesus stays the same year after year, century after century, forever—even if my favorite pants shrink to the size of a dinner napkin.

©      From My Heart to Yours: Although I tend to base the worth of an item on its size, that doesn’t matter when it comes to problems. God is bigger than any or all of them. Next time one threatens to steal my joy, I need to remind myself of the huge, powerful hand of my Father.

The above is a chapter from my humor/inspirational book, The Heart of Humor, available on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. 

Are you bugged by this shrinking trend? What large items do you miss the most?