Eye Candy

Eye Candy

At the county fair, your eyes zoom in on the sign: Cotton Candy. This billowy confection forms around a cardboard cone. You pull off the first bite like you’re plucking fruit off the finest tree. A rush of pleasure bursts on your taste buds before melting into nothing.

And nothing it is. While it appears to have size and substance, promising a world of delight, it’s mostly air and a few grains of sugar.

As an occasional indulgence, such eye candy is fine. But for many of us, it’s more than just occasional.

Your eyes are always drawn to who’s divorcing whom on the magazine rack. You’re obsessed with how your favorite team is doing. You can’t wait to see which reality-show housewife goes off the rails next.

You are what you eat. Likewise, you tend to resemble what you most look upon. Resolve in your mind that you’ll spend more of your time focusing on what matters.

Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.

—Aesop