The Golden Need For Speed

Drive through McDonalds window

As promised, the series post on McDonald's continues. Americans are famous for being impatient. We cannot sit still through a long tea pouring ceremony like the Japanese. (If you are unfamiliar with the history of fast food restaurants, check this out.) I am not surprised that Americans were at the forefront of fast food, because of our impatience. McDonald's, even though it did not invent fast food, has had the greatest impact on the fast food industry and our culture. 


In my opinion, McDonald's widespread franchising of fast food set America off on its quest to make everything quicker and more efficient. Since then, everything has become faster- including fast food! Drive thru's were invented so you never even had to go into a restaurant and leave your car to get food. In addition to food, think of all the technology that has become faster. Remember dial up internet? That's a thing of the past; now you can get on the internet and find the answer to a question in 10 seconds. Cameras used to take pictures you had to take to a drugstore to have developed, but now you can see the picture you took on the camera a second after you took it. I am sure you can think of many other examples- the list goes on. 


But why? Why is speed so important in America? Why can we no longer leave our car to go  get dinner or just wait for the picture to be printed to see how it looks? For starters, being speedy has always been the key to winning a race, and we want to be a nation of winners.  Furthermore, the faster we do things, the more we can do.  But that's just me. Why do you think Americans are so obsessed with everything being as fast as it can?