Invisible Pillar of Society

The fish no nothing of water.

So goes an old saying. It means that in a given community of people there are things taken for granted to such a degree that they aren’t even noticed.

Ask a Bedouin nomad about the conditions he lives in – “Hey, it’s pretty hot and dry today, huh?” – and you’ll probably get a funny look. Or ask someone on the New York City subway at rush hour if it’s always this busy, and the person probably won’t even slow down to give you that funny look, but, rather, just keep right on going.

As for the original saying, it can be applied to dozens – nay, hundreds – of settings all around the world, and all over our great country.

One way that the fish no nothing of water is actually the extent to polybags surround nearly all people living in modern civilization. On a given day, the average American might come into direct contact with three or four polybags and be indirectly helped by three or four more, and sometimes a lot more than that.

Polybags are everywhere. Because they make life better, profoundly better!

From gardening supplies to trash bags to bags of rice to pastry bags to bags of snack chips to medical bags to biohazard bags, and many other applications besides, are, in their way, a pillar of civilization. The fact that the pillar is semi-invisible to people makes sense.

We sometimes only see polybags when it really matters – when a loved one is in the intensive care unit, and we take a hard look at the polybag holding fluids to help keep our loved one alive.

Or perhaps that package with a treasured framed photograph sent across the country arrives, and we breathe a sigh of relief when we see that inflated polybags have protected the art from harm on its journey.

These inflated polybags are far lighter and better for the environment than the Styrofoam popcorn that was used by the packing industry for so long. It took polybag manufacturers to come up with a better solution.

But like we said, until it really matters, most people just don’t normally notice polybags, and that’s fine.

After all, the fish no nothing of water! Except perhaps on the rare occasion when they stop, think about it, and then continue on their way. Thanks for reading!