I believe in people taking ownership and responsibility for the thing they are a part of or that affect them. Our lives are always going to be shaped to a degree by serendipity, and it’s OK to fall in love with things even if they aren’t so much the greatest things in the world as the things we happen to have gotten tangled up in. Some things, however, may not be worth it.

This man is so endeared of collectible A&W mugs that he walked 26 unsolicited miles in an A&W bear costume to win a special one. That’s just strange.

“bearathon Man” Walks 26 Miles While Wearing Great Root Bear® Costume To Get Collectible A&w® Mug, Raise Money For Charity

(that’s two Registered Trademark notices in one headline)

Then again, millions of people eat at fast food franchises all the time, without feeling any more sense of real involvement or personal relationship than that creepy glow instilled by effective marketing. Life entrenched in the inherent falseness of the American materialist dream may not be much of a life, but he’s living it to the fullest. So, OK, I respect him. And he raised money for the Red Cross. Which is cool.

Whoever the “Franchise Mall” website demographic is, I am still skeptical of.