Visual Mental Image

I was watching a television program some time ago on the topic of how children, particularly those living in an urban setting, are ignorant of where food comes from and what it originally looked like. Ask them where carrots come from and they answer, 'the supermarket'. This sparked off a campaign for education on the origin of farming produce. At the time I didn't quite get the vehemence with which the program was made. Does it really matter in day to day life whether I know how the carrots I buy off the shelf came to be on that shelf? Does knowing make me a better person? Improve my life quality or that of someone else's? I am all for education on our global economy - something I personally know little about - as well as education on the potential impact our decisions may have on the quality of life of others, but will visiting a carrot farm really help? In the great scheme of things, it seems like an awful small thing to get so very upset about.

I use the Auction House to buy and sell items on a near daily basis. I realized again today the difference the origin of a visual mental image can make. I both buy, sell and farm herbs. The herbs I require for alchemy at the moment grows in regions too high up the food chain for me to farm, so I buy what I need when it's affordable. My visual mental image of blindweed was formed when I first saw the blindweed icon in the auction house. It did not have any emotional connotation for me, it was just a picture of something called blindweed with a monetary value attached to it. The only emotional connotation to it was slight resentment for shelling out money when I had to buy it and a soothing sense of accomplishment when I resold cheaply bought stacks at market price.

However, having levelled up high enough to enter the swamp of sorrows recently, my image of blindweed drastically changed. To see it standing where it grows, to harvest it for free whilst under attack of little green flying dragons was an emotional experience. My mental image changed from the auction house icon to that of an image of the swamp of sorrows, with a pretty little plant growing near the water. It made me realize that I prefer knowing where things come from. I prefer knowing that monetary value is not an inherent attachment to anything. It's an add-on that occurs later in the process. At the start, there is only potential. No guarantees.

I always thought economics dull. I did well in accounting up until I was 16 and then chose the science route instead. Science has a certain nobility to it. I drifted away from physics and math first toward the biological sciences, but had to settle for the soft sciences. Now, no longer attached to any of these fields at all, I am again struck by the usefulness of information. Informed decisions are generally the better decisions. It's impossible to make an informed decision if you don't know the basics of most things and often specialize in at least one or two areas. Knowing where blindweed comes from, makes me a better buyer and seller of blindweed.