To Dunkin' or not to Dunkin'; That is the Question

“Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind...”

Well, not to risk upsetting the immortal Bard of Avon any further, I’ll stop. But that’s essentially the question that the Arlington Patch asked last week:

My wife and I are big fans of Dunkin' Donuts. They produce a consistent product—good donuts and good coffee. We each have our favorite—Carolyn, chocolate stick; mine, jelly stick. And with three stores in town, they're fairly accessible.

But occasionally, I just yearn for something different. You know, the old fashioned donut shop—or perhaps I should spell it "doughnut shoppe"!

The kind of place where each donut has a different texture, flavor and shape—where there’s no corporate sameness to the food or the establishment.

And we’re fortunate in Arlington to have one—the Gail Ann Coffee Shop on Medford Street.   

Sometimes, I just want choice. Maybe you do to?

I think it’s like that in lots of areas of life. 

For instance, I’m a big fan of the LP—you remember those black vinyl music disks.  CD came along and most folks quickly adopted the newer medium—a prime example of successful marketing. 

Yet, I’ve found that the LP can often be a more faithful—a more truthful—music carrier than anything that has followed it. Those 12-inch disks hold treasures of naturalness—the sound of real people, singing and playing real instruments, in real places--which CDs often miss. It’s simply the nature of the two formats.

Now please don’t think that I’m anti-CD. I’ve got a ton of them. But I regularly find myself feeling a great sense of relief—there’s no other way to describe it—when after listening to CDs, I put on an LP and unmistakably hear that more lifelike sound. 

And, when friends come over and hear the difference between them, they’re blown away—inevitably preferring the LP even though they invariably assumed the CD would be better.

I find myself asking how often do we make assumptions based on whatever the current prevailing “wisdom” is? And as a result, are we overlooking things, methods, and ideas that are just as valuable, or perhaps even more so? And is the prevalent corporate model really the best for us, our community, or our country?

Health care is a prime example. Western drug and surgery-based medicine is readily available, but do we realize that we have other choices that might be more effective for some, if not all, of our healthcare needs?

And these include spiritual methods of health care which an increasing number of medical researchers are beginning to discover can have significant benefits on our health outcomes, wellness, and helping to stem the upward-spiraling cost of health care.

The choice—whether in donuts, music, or health care—should always be available.